The State College Borough Council further clarified its process for selecting State College Mayor Don Hahn’s interim replacement at its Monday meeting. Council will vote to select the next mayor at its December 16 meeting, which will coincide with the official date of Hahn’s confirmed resignation.

Council unofficially confirmed the following measures for the selection process:

• Council will schedule two meetings for the first week in December.
• Council will provide applicants with a list of five questions to answer or build from in their presentations. Applicants will not be required to answer every question. The list will be developed with public input and with help from the Centre County League of Women’s Voters, and will be finalized at Council’s December 2 meeting.
• Each applicant will deliver a two- to five-minute presentation to Council based on this list of questions

Council President Evan Myers began the mayoral section of the meeting with additional information on the selection process, and noted that Isabella Webster, a Penn State student, had withdrawn her name from the applicant list.

Myers explained that applicants must be nominated by a Borough Council member, and do not require a second to the original motion. The first applicant to reach a simple majority of Council member votes will be named mayor, even if other candidates have not been voted upon.

Myers also noted that the Borough’s Home Rule Charter, which provides guidelines for the interim mayor selection process, can only be altered by voters and not by Council members.

Monday’s discussion focused on timing, with several members expressing concern that the December 16 meeting may be too early to vote on a replacement. Others argued that the process had dragged on long enough, and that to enter a new calendar year without a mayor and with new Council members could be problematic.

Council decided that community members will be able to submit questions through the Borough’s website for applicants to answer at a public meeting. Council will then evaluate the submissions and decide on a final list at its December 2 meeting. Applicants will present later that week.

Council will randomly draw applicant names to decide the presentation order. It will hold a second random drawing of members’ names to decide the applicant nomination order at its December 16 meeting.

Council members were generally supportive of Myers’ proposed process, which Councilwoman Theresa Lafer said is “literally using the League of Women Voters’ format” that is “proven to work fairly well in this community and others.”