NORTH ADAMS — The city is looking to the community to fill a vacancy on the School Committee.

Resident and former educator Chelsey Ciolkowski put her name on the ballot for School Committee earlier this year, but withdrew a few weeks before the election. In a letter published in October, she asked people to not vote for her. But she still placed third in a race where the top three finishers were elected, beating out fourth-place finisher Eric Wilson by 496 votes.

Now, the City Council and School Committee will solicit letters of interest and host a joint convention to fill her empty spot.

North Adams officials are soliticing interest to fill an unexpected vacancy on the School Committee. “The issue that we have is [Chelsey] Ciolkowski was on the ballot ... [but] is unable to carry out the position,” Mayor Jennifer Macksey said Tuesday.

“The issue that we have is Ms. Ciolkowski was on the ballot, [she] did not withdraw in a timely manner, but has sent a letter to me as well as publicized it that she accepted a position with North Adams Public Schools and is unable to carry out the position,” Mayor Jennifer Macksey said at Tuesday’s School Committee meeting.

The School Committee approved the election process Tuesday night and encouraged people to submit letters of interest with a deadline of 2 p.m. Jan. 6. The following day, those letters will be provided to all City Council and School Committee members.

The convention will be held at 7 p.m. Jan. 13, in the Council Chambers at City Hall. Those interested can email letters of interest to Bobbi Tassone, the administrative assistant to the School Committee, at [email protected].

According to a press release, the convention will ask candidates who submitted letters to speak. Each candidate will have no more than 3 minutes to speak. After each address, 10 minutes will be reserved for questions.

The seat will be determined by a roll call vote requiring a simple majority of convention members. If a candidate does not receive a simple majority, they will be removed from consideration and the process will continue until a candidate attains a simple majority.

In a letter published by The Eagle, Ciolkowski said she accepted a position as a school adjustment counselor for the district shortly after filing her papers.

"I truly apologize for putting voters and the city in this position, but my withdrawal is necessary for obvious reasons," she said in the letter. "I want to thank everyone who supported me and those who might have voted for me."

When a vacancy happens, according to the city charter, the School Committee and City Council host a joint convention to elect someone to serve until the next regular municipal election.

Macksey said that Wilson would be submitting a letter and said that the convention will “take all letters and vet them equally.”

She also called the opportunity a good way to “get started” without a formal election and pointed to current member Alyssa Tomkowicz as a current example.

Dick Alcombright, a former mayor and current committee member who is not returning next year, said he also got his start through a vacancy appointment in 1991.

“It is a great way to get in because you can taste it and you can say ‘Well, maybe I don’t like it,’ and that is good," Alcombright said.