Members of the Tiverton Town Council are expected to appoint a successor to councilor Joe Perry, who died in mid-September, within a month. But there’s some disagreement about how they should do it.

At their Tuesday, Oct. 10 meeting, councilors voted to advertise the vacant position beginning this week, with interviews of qualified candidates and an appointment expected to occur Tuesday, Nov. 14. 

President Denise deMedeiros said the council’s decision to appoint the successor is based on the Town Charter, which stipulates that the council can appoint when no qualified candidates are available to fill the vacancy.

Personnel board member Joanne Arruda objected to the process last week, contending that people in town feel “disenfranchised” because write-in votes at the last election are not being taken into consideration.

“When you read the charter, it says a qualified candidate from the last election shall be appointed by the town council to fill the unexpired term of the vacated position.”

But deMedeiros said the most recent town election was unprecedented, since only seven candidates ran for seven available seats. Had additional candidates been on the ballot, the individual with the highest number of votes could then assume the current vacant position, she said.

The town charter, she said, does not permit the town to fill a vacant seat based on write-in votes.

“It has been interpreted by two lawyers already and I think it’s very clear,” said deMedeiros. “I want to say that anyone who received write-in votes can apply, and we can take that into consideration.”

Town Administrator Chris Cotta said the highest write-in vote getters were Dave Perry (no relation to Joe Perry) – with 35 votes, and David Paull, with 33.

Both Perry and Paull said intend to submit applications for the position.

Acknowledging that Perry is ahead of him by two votes, Paull said the fact that neither ran an organized campaign means the appointment process outlined by the charter is appropriate.

“If he ran an organized write-in campaign and got 1,000 or 500 or even 300 votes, I’d tell the council, ‘You really don’t have a choice here.’

Paull said he does not dispute the lawyer’s interpretation of the town charter.

“When I read it myself, to me it was crystal clear. A qualified elector is somebody who was on the ballot.”