The first interview with a candidate to fill a vacancy on the Cascade County Commission is scheduled for 3 p.m. Jan. 25.

The first interview is with Don Ryan.

Ryan is one of the three candidates selected by the Cascade County Democratic Central Committee to replace Commissioner Jane Weber.

Weber is resigning her seat, effective Jan. 22.

Democrats select three names for consideration to replace Weber for County Commission seat

The committee met Jan. 7 to select three names, which are Casey Schreiner, Don Ryan and Helena Lovick, according to Carl Donovan, committee chairman.

The meeting will be publicly available via Zoom and the information is available here.

The public is able to comment during the meeting.

Under state law, the commissioners must replace Weber, a Democrat, with someone from the Democratic party. The candidates must have resided in Weber’s district three for at least two years preceding the date of Weber’s retirement.

The remaining commissioners can choose one to appoint to her seat, but that person will have to run again in 2022 at the next general election and then again in 2024 to reinstate the district three seat cycle.

Commissioner Jim Larson told The Electric last week that the county is working to develop interview questions and start interviews the week of Jan. 18.

“I don’t feel like there is any delay. There are very qualified candidates to be vetted and it should to be fair to all of them during the interview process without hurrying the process,” Larson said. “There shouldn’t be any concern over a vacancy, as it is no different than when a commissioner goes on vacation for a week or two weeks. The work will get done and meetings will be held. A split vote could possibly happen, but it is a rare occasion. A vote could be tabled if it looks like there might be a split.”

Weber resigning from County Commission

The candidates who submitted letters of interest to fill Weber’s seat, according to Donovan, are:

• Casey Schreiner
• Vanessa Hayden
• David Phillips
• Helena Lovick
• Don Ryan
• Amy Rapp
• Randall Knowles