Buffalo Common Council debates policy to fill vacancy amid Mayor Byron Brown's departure

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) -- The political shift with Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown resigning means Buffalo Common Council President Chris Scanlon will now become acting mayor, technically leaving the South District with no representation.

The council debated Tuesday on policy to fill the vacancy.

Majority Leader Leah Halton-Pope submitted a resolution weeks ago requesting the city attorney to explore options for possibly filling Scanlon’s seat, but some council members tried to block that effort Tuesday because of potential legal issues down the road.

Council members are currently not allowed to temporarily fill Scanlon’s seat, causing division among the council.

"According to the narrative that I read, it goes against state law, it goes against the charter, and we can't ask the Corporation Counsel to go against something that goes against state law," said Council Member David Rivera.

"Respectfully, no one is asking Corporation Counsel to do anything against state law or to go against the charter,” Halton-Pope said. “It was an ask about the charter specifically — is this something that is answered?" 

In the end, the effort passed for city lawyers to review the council's options. Some on the council want to pass a new law on this issue while others want to go through a charter review commission, but the concern is that it may take too much time. 

The charter review commission would evaluate and suggest revisions to the charter while gathering input from the public, legal experts and civic leaders, the council said.

In a 6-3 vote Tuesday, the council also adopted a resolution addressing the effects of a mayoral vacancy, which would have the Corporation Counsel write up a process that would be followed in the event of a mayor leaving.

The resolution would also make sure that any council seat left by the acting mayor will not be unrepresented and it would create a process for appointing an interim acting council member.

One thing that's unclear is how much time council members in the law department have to work on the policy because Brown has not announced a date for his resignation.