Four Marble Cliff residents have applied to fill the vacancy on the village council that opened when Kent Studebaker became mayor.

The candidates are Barbara Armatos, 1314 Arlington Ave.; John Kukura, 1435 Cambridge Blvd.; Kendy Troiano, 1969 Cardigan Ave.; and Dow Voelker, 2041 W. Third Ave.

Kukura, who currently serves on council, and Troiano both ran for council in this year's election and finished in fourth and fifth place respectively. Four seats were up for election and Linda Siefkas and incumbents Matt Cincione and David Roark won election.

Kukura edged out Troiano by one vote, and the Franklin County Board of Elections will be holding a recount once the results are certified, leaving the final results uncertain.

Village council has scheduled a special meeting for 4:30 p.m. Friday to interview the candidates. A meeting has also been scheduled for 4:30 p.m. Monday for interviews with candidates unable to make Friday's interview.

Council members intend to vote to fill the vacancy on Friday or Monday, once all the interviews are completed.

Kukura will not be participating in the discussion or vote, leaving only four council members to consider the matter, village solicitor Mitch Banchefsky said.

Because four votes are needed to decide the issue, all four council members will need to be present and the vote on a candidate will have to be unanimous, he said.

Studebaker's seat became vacant when he moved up to mayor after former Mayor Rich Murray resigned Oct. 31.

By statute, council has 30 days from the date of Murray's resignation to fill the vacancy, so it would have to act by Monday, Nov. 30, Banchefsky said.

The situation is complicated by the pending recount.

The board of elections expects to have the election results certified by Nov. 24, but must wait five days before beginning the recount, Banchefsky said.

Since Nov. 29 is a Sunday, the recount would not start until at least Nov. 30, he said.

Marble Cliff's recount would likely be completed within the day, but a recount of the South-Western School District tax levy is also pending and it is uncertain which review will take place first, Banchefsky said.

Council can make its selection ahead of the recount, he said.

If the results of the recount require a switch in the seating on council, that reshuffling will occur and another 30-day process to fill the vacancy would be needed, Banchefsky said.

That situation would apparently only occur if council were to choose Troiano to fill the vacancy and the recount showed her edging out Kukura in the election.

If council does not act within the 30-day deadline, the decision on filling the vacancy would fall to the mayor, Banchefsky said.

Council does not have to hold interviews with the candidates before making a decision, he said.

While that may be true, Roark said, council should conduct interviews with the candidates because that is the proper process, just as it should try to decide on a candidate within the 30-day deadline.

"I think we should try  to fulfill our obligation and not punt it to the mayor," he said.

In other business Monday, council unanimously voted to appoint Roark as council president.

Studebaker chaired the council meeting for the first time as mayor. He took office as mayor on Nov. 1.