Tonight, the community had the opportunity to hear from the three candidates for the next Mayor of the City of Fairfax. It was a standing room only crowd at the City Library and I would like to thank the League of Women Voters of the Fairfax Area for hosting the event.

All three candidates responded to questions posed by the Fairfax City Citizens for Smarter Growth.

In addition, there will be a Candidates Night on Thursday January 19 at 7:00 pm sponsored by the City of Fairfax Homeowners' Association which will be shown live and replayed on Cityscreen-12 and available later on the City of Fairfax YouTube Channel. If you are interested in submitting questions for the candidates for January 19, please email [email protected].

If you have not yet had the opportunity to review the material posted by my fellow Councilmembers on their vision for the future of the City, I would strongly encourage you to do so. Below is a link to each of their websites:

Michael DeMarco

David Meyer

Ellie Schmidt

Since the special election on February 7 will be contested only by sitting Councilmembers and unless a write in candidate were to win the election, there will be a vacancy on the City Council in the future. This will necessitate action by the City Council.

At a work session to be held Tuesday January 10 following the regular Council meeting, the Council will review the following staff report. This report outlines several key points regarding the process and timing for addressing the vacancy.

This purpose of this work session is to provide the relevant information to the Council as well as the public regarding the process. Since the Council is discussing this in a work session, there will be no action taken by the Council on January 10.

As we move forward together, I would encourage everyone to make sure they are registered to vote for the February 7 special election. There are many opportunities to vote early in person. I would also encourage everyone to share their thoughts on how address the likely vacancy on Council following the election of our next Mayor. Again, the staff report for the work session is simply the starting point for future discussions.