The death of Piersonite Tom Larrivee left a vacant seat on the Pierson Town Council last month, but the town will leave the seat open until elections, Mayor Samuel G.S. Bennett said.
“We’re basically going to let the electorate make the decision,” Bennett told The Beacon. “Councilman Tom Larrivee’s seat, it’s just a few weeks before you qualify to run.”
While the last seat to become vacant due to a death was filled quickly, Bennett said, referring to former Town Council Member James T. Peterson, who died last May, Larrivee’s seat opened close enough to an election to leave the decision up to voters. Peterson’s seat was filled by former Pierson Planning Commission Chair D. Gray Leonhard, who was appointed to the Town Council last June.
Both Larrivee’s former seat and the seat Leonhard was appointed to on the Town Council, as well as Vice Mayor Robert F. Greenlund’s seat will be up for grabs in the coming election.
As of May 13, no one had filed to run for any of these seats, according to the Volusia County Supervisor of Elections website, but the qualifying period for the upcoming election, when would-be public servants formalize their candidacy, does not begin until noon on Monday, June 13.
