BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — It's a political domino effect waiting to happen. We anticipate Mayor Byron Brown will take the top job at Western Regional Off-Track Betting making South District Common Council President Chris Scanlon acting mayor.
According to OTB chairman Dennis Bassett, Brown still needs to get a license approved by the gaming board. They are working to expedite the process and hope that will occur shortly.
According to a spokesperson from the Mayor's Office, Brown will have an announcement about his future next week. You can watch our report below and read more here.
Once Scanlon steps into his new role, Council member Bryan Bollman will become acting council president.
"I think my experience prepares me. I've been a council member for five years. I've been on leadership this past year, and I'm totally ready to step up and fulfill any duties," Bollman said.
In a matter of weeks, the Council will go from nine members in a meeting to eight, but there's a division over what will happen to Scanlon's seat.
"I'm of the mindset of I would like to fill the seat. Obviously, we have a charter that we're governed by, so we're seeking legal opinions," Bollman said.
Some believe Scanlon's seat will be considered vacant. Council member Leah Halton-Pope recently proposed a resolution that will allow a new lawmaker to fill Scanlon's seat until the next general election in November 2025.
But not everyone is on board with that. Council member Mitch Nowakowski said he spoke with the city's lawyers to clarify all of this.
"A seat is only vacant if someone is to pass away, resign or win an election to another office. And the duality of that, the fact that the council member can then return back to their seat. Their unexpired term means that it's not vacant," he said. "So the Council president will still represent the South District, just have additional duties as acting mayor. Some people could say that he will have almost more power than maybe a council member representing the South District seat."
Council members now have to make these determinations soon before many of them prepare for Brown to leave office.
"We're all going to have to work together through this," Bollman said.
