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27-CV-25-2808 <br />Filed in District Court <br />State of Minnesota <br />2/15/2025 12:08 PM <br />subd. 2a requires a city council to already have in place a special -election ordinance <br />whose effect "will" —a future -looking term —be triggered by the occurrence of "a <br />vacancy." Id.; Order, Minn. Voters All. v. Walz, No. A25-0017 (Minn. Jan. 17, 2025). <br />99. Put differently, only if there is (1) a special -election ordinance in place and (2) <br />a vacancy occurs can a city council hold a special election "before" the next regular <br />city election, as opposed to the default, "at" the next "regular city election." <br />100. Again, the express intent of both the motion to appoint and the actual <br />appointment of Ms. Berrett by then -Mayor Dennis Walsh was that she fill the seat <br />for the remainder of the unexpired term and that the special election be held "at" the <br />next regular city election. So, the City Council of Orono could not subsequently retract <br />the effect of that appointment by adopting a resolution, such as Resolution No. 7554, <br />calling for a special election "before" the next regular city election. <br />101. Since the City of Orono did not adopt a special -election ordinance prior <br />to the occurrence of Mr. Johnson's vacancy or at the time Ms. Berrett was appointed, <br />the Orono City Council could not then —and still cannot now —call for a special <br />election for the seat held by Ms. Berrett "before" the next regular city election. We <br />repeat: no vacancy exists in Orono. The City Council cannot apply a post -appointment <br />ordinance to shorten Ms. Berrett's "title" to the office. <br />102. This situation is similar in some respects to that encountered by the <br />Rhode Island Supreme Court concerning an appointment by that state's governor of <br />a lieutenant governor and an attempt by the General Assembly to shorten the <br />23 <br />78 <br />