Council’s method of selecting city clerk criticized

Lazaro Aleman ECB Publishing, Inc. Monticello officials’ handling of the appointment of the new city clerk came under criticism at the council’s most recent meeting on Tuesday evening, July 2. Rev. Terry Presley was the first to question the appointment. The city clerk position, he noted, was an elected office. So why, he asked, hadn’t the city held a special election to fill the position once it had become vacant? “Why didn’t we the voters get a chance to vote?” Presley asked. City Attorney Mitchell Herring explained that unlike the county, whose vacant offices were filled by governor appointment, Monticello’s charter dictated how vacant city offices would be filled. An