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ALPENA -- The Alpena Municipal Council will take another crack at filling its vacant mayor position at its meeting tonight.
On Jan. 2, two current council members, Cindy Johnson and Mike Nowak were each nominated to be interim mayor, but each time a 2-2 vote thwarted their chance, setting the stage for tonight's meeting.
Each of the candidates voted for themselves, while Councilman Danny Mitchell voted for Nowak and Karol Walchak voted for Johnson.
Council couldn't pass a motion to reconsider either of the candidates because in order to do so, a majority vote was needed. Because the council was deadlocked, waiting two weeks was necessary.
In November, the seat of mayor is on the ballot and a new mayor could be elected to serve a four-year term.
The council has 30 days to elect a new mayor to replace former Mayor Matt Waligora who resigned at the end of last year.
Council is also expected to appoint a replacement for whoever becomes mayor at the meeting.
Johnson hasn't committed to running for mayor in November but if she was named interim mayor, she would run as the incumbent.
Nowak has declared he will not be on the ballot but believes if he can serve as mayor until the end of the year, it would level the playing field between all candidates and an incumbent would not have the upper hand.
At the end of its last meeting, after the votes, the council considered appointing another council member and allowing them to be the deciding vote.
City Attorney Bill Pfeifer said rules forbid that move because neither Johnson's nor Nowak's seat is considered vacant until someone is chosen as mayor.
There are four candidates that the council will consider once a new mayor is inserted, Erinn Kane, Christopher Moses, Ashley Peterson, and Kevin Ginter all filed for consideration for the open position.
Pfeifer said he hopes the council can reach a consensus and the 30-deadline can be reached. He said there is little in the City Charter directing council what to do if the stalemate extends past the deadline at the end of the month, but he said state election law said a random drawing of names is one way to break the deadlock.
"Let's hope it doesn't come to that," he said.
In 2022, a drawing was held to determine the winner of a seat on the Rogers City City Council after candidates Timeen Adair and Brittany VanderWall tied in that race during the election.
Although this situation is slightly different, Pfeifer said if the gridlock continues, it may be an option.
Today's meeting is slated to begin at 6 p.m.