One more seat will be up for grabs in the spring Sedona City Council election after a 5-2 vote determined Vice Mayor John Bradshaw’s entire remaining term won’t be filled by appointment.

Councilwoman Nancy Scagnelli and Pud Colquitt voted against opening the seat for election in the spring. Instead, they wanted to appoint a candidate to serve the entire term.

The vote came after the council unanimously passed an ordinance to allow the seat to be filled by election with an emergency clause putting it into effect immediately upon approval.

Bradshaw recently announced his resignation with 30 months remaining in his term. How to fill the seat became an issue with residents worried an appointment would create a council with three appointed mem-bers and only four elected.

Bradshaw, who eventually voted in favor of using an election to permanently fill the seat, said he was concerned not enough people would run to ensure voters had a choice.

A council with half its members appointed is not acceptable, Jawn McKinley, a Sedona resident, said. The council needs to make sure Sedona has a chance at democracy.

Filling the seat by election maintains the fundamental right to vote that is held sacred in the United States, Councilman Cliff Hamilton said. Hamilton knows 18 people interested in running, eight who were at the meeting.

“The underlying principle trumps all arguments for going by appointment,” Councilman Mark DiNunzio said.

If it’s not broke, don’t fix it, Scagnelli said, and she said council has had good luck with its appointments. Currently Colquitt and DiNunzio are the appointed members on council.

It comes down to stability on council, according to Scagnelli, and leadership for the city. Council could be left with only Hamilton with two years of experience and DiNunzio with less than a year after the next election.

There is a perception in the public that the system for filling vacated seats is broken, Mayor Rob Adams said.

Council will now collect applications to fill the seat by appointment until the spring election at which time, a two-year seat for the remaining term will appear on the ballot.