The divided members of the Buellton City Council have agreed to take the unusual, costly and untimely step of calling for a special election to fill a vacant seat, seemingly shrugging off other candidates who applied or other options for picking a finalist.

On Thursday night, the council didn’t discuss any additional candidates beyond political newcomer Carla Mead and former Mayor Dave King despite at least four additional people tossing their names into the process.

They voted 3-1 to call for a special election, with Mayor David Silva casting the lone vote in opposition.

Silva and Vice Mayor Elysia Lewis backed Mead, while Councilmen John Sanchez and Hudson Hornick supported King.

The seat became vacant when Silva was elected as mayor in November while in the middle of his council term, which will end in 2026.

Additional candidates who applied for the seat include former council members Judith Dale, Leo Elovitz and Victoria Pointer, along with Justin Greene, a deputy district attorney.

It means the City Council apparently will operate with just four members for the next six months. Additionally, the delay keeps an empty seat on the Buellton Planning Commission. The fifth council member nominates someone for that seat, and the entire council votes on the appointment.

Silva won the job of mayor in the two-person race against King. However, the fact that King still garnered more than 1,200 votes led some to push for his return to the council. Voters from throughout the city select the mayor, while council members are selected from four districts.

“The only reason we’re doing this is because you didn’t do your four-year term, and that’s a fact,” Sanchez said of Silva, who was in his first four-year term when he ran for mayor.

As some audience members grumbled, Lewis called for everyone to remain civil even with the disagreements. 

“I appreciate your feedback on that, Mr. Sanchez, and I appreciate that your No. 1 goal seems to be to mitigate an election result you disagree with,” Silva said. 

“I’m going to step in if I can,” Hornick said after his colleagues’ testy exchange. “I think that at this point, although I would like to hash this out, I think it might behoove us to go to special election, hopefully in August.”

An in-person election couldn’t occur until November, but a vote-by-mail election for District 4 could occur in August with the county estimating that the city would have to pay $35,000. 

Lewis said she previously believed they would reach a consensus on how to fill the slot before realizing the gap dividing the four council members.

“I think that I am still at the point where I favor a special election despite the costs to the city,” Lewis said. “I feel that it’s unfortunate. I think it’s unfortunate we would have to spend the money. I think it’s unfortunate to put the candidates through the rigorous process, because it’s not fun and it is very time consuming.”

Several speakers lobbied for Mead or King while also calling for collaboration and transparency. However, the council remained divided whether speakers represented the true desires of District 4. 

Lewis said an election would provide legitimacy for the new council member and avoid further erosion of the relationship among the four members. 

Aug. 5 apparently is the soonest the special election can take place and will be via vote-by-mail ballots only.

At the council meeting in February, staff will return with a report spelling out the timelines, including when and how candidates can file for the election.

Buellton’s not the first public panel wrestling with a sharp divide in filling a vacancy. 

State laws say only that the vacancy can be filled by appointment or special elections, but remain mum on what measures should or could be taken.

Others have taken the step to flip a coin to break a tie between two candidates. When there are more than two, some panels rank the multiple candidates to reach a consensus and avoid a special election.

In 2022, after the resignation of Buellton Councilman Ed Andrisek, the then-council remained split on how to fill the seat, which expired months later. The council ultimately decided to leave it vacant from August until the November election that year.