La Crosse committee passes bills to replace District 5 council rep. through both an appointment and special election

Two pieces of legislation on the agenda Tuesday to replace the District 5 La Crosse city council rep, and both passed by 4-2 votes from the Judiciary and Administration Committee.

Both items were not really dueling legislation, though the ideology from the council president was to do one, not the other.

Chris Kahlow, the council president, told WIZM last month that replacing the District 5 rep. should be done by special election — which would happen in April — and not an immediate appointment, while the mayor added legislation to have the council appoint a new rep. for the time being.

Jenesea Hameister resigned in May, after graduating college and moving out of the district. It’s something District 5 deals with often, as it contains a lot of UW-La Crosse students.

Kahlow chose not to have the council appoint a replacement and leave the seat vacant until April for a the special election.

After that decision was made, La Crosse Mayor Mitch Reynolds added another item to the July council meetings to vote on appointing a council member so the district isn’t without representation for the next 7-8 months.