MONTE VISTA - At last week’s city council meeting the council voted and swore in a new member. Councilor Larry Foster was the only candidate that ran during the general public election leaving one more seat to be filled.   There were four candidates that the city interviewed for the position. The voting was carried out by secret ballot with each councilor writing down the name of a candidate and folding their papers, before giving them to the City Clerk. Before they began the voting, Mayor Dale Becker read the following to those in attendance.  
 “Elections to fill a vacancy on the city council may be held by secret ballot or by rollcall vote. After the votes are cast the City clerk will collect and count the votes. The Mayor will then announce the results. If any of the nominees received a vote of majority of the remaining councilors in office on the first ballot, he or she shall be declared elected. If none of the nominees receive such a majority vote at the end of the first balloting the candidate receiving the fewest numbers of votes will be dropped as a candidate unless the elimination of such name or names in cases of a tie vote would leave only one candidate for the office. This process will continue until one candidate receives the majority vote of remaining council members in office.”
Before they voted Mayor Becker also added, “Before we get going, we had four very good candidates and I really respect and appreciate everybody that applied. If you are not the one chosen it is not because you’re not a part of this community and I would ask that if you’re not chosen that you still are involved with the community like you have been. I just wanted to say that upfront thank you all.”
After the votes were cast and counted, it was announced by the Mayor that Martha Lock had been elected by majority vote. Lock won the election with two votes with the other two remaining votes being cast for two different candidates. Lock was sworn in as a city council member and took her seat on the council at the same meeting.