Election to fill Shelley's council seat could come in May

More on the City Council seat that will be left vacant when Shelley Sekula-Gibbs heads off for her congressional jaunt: There will be a special election to fill the seat; it will probably be held in May; and it could cost $2 million. "It's sort of a shame that we have to pay a lot of money to hold a special election, but that's the state law as it exists," Mayor Bill White said.

The election can't be held earlier than May — the next uniform Election Day is set for May 12 — and whoever wins will have to run again in November if they want to keep the job. Officials estimate the cost of the initial election will be about $1 million, and if a runoff is necessary, that'll cost another million. And if all the candidates who seem interested now run, it seems there might be a good chance for a runoff: Among the people who have expressed interest are lawyers Jay Aiyer and Al Bennett, former Judge Eric Andell, ex-state Rep. Diana Davila Martinez; former HIspanic Chamber of Commerce CEO Richard Torres; City Councilman M.J. Khan (who would be looking to move up from a district seat to Shelley's at-large seat); and two politicians' wives, Nandy (Mrs. City Councilman Michael) Berry and Melissa (Mrs. Rep. Rick) Noreiga.

Though the candidates have until April 11 to file for the race, we imagine the list of potential candidates will get much clearer long before that.