Unalaska, AK – After failing to come to an agreement at last night's meeting, the Unalaska City Council will push back its decision on an interim appointment for the council's open seat to next week.

That compromise was reached after council member Dick Peck blocked a motion put forward by member Juanita Lewis to appoint D.H. "Kris" Flanagan to the seat recently vacated by Rocky Caldero.

Peck said his goal in doing that was to give member Katherine McGlashan, who was not present for the meeting, a chance to weigh in on the choice.

"It was not meant as anything personal," Peck said. "We need the full legislative body in session to vote on who we need in this community for our next council member."

All three other present council members voted to appoint Flanagan, but because they only amounted to half the council, and because the mayor can only break a three-to-three tie vote, Peck was able to block the motion.

That prompted a terse exchange at the meeting between Peck and Mayor Shirley Marquardt, who said this morning that she would've been OK with four of the six council members making the decision.

"Everyone was there who'd put their name in for the seat, and the council quite often makes decisions with only four members present," she said.

Six candidates had put their names in for the seat. Flanagan said he hoped to be appointed, but welcomed the competition.

"If there's only one person who puts his name in, it doesn't seem right to me," he said. "That's the reason I got involved in politics to start out with--there was a person running for city council and no one was opposing them."

Although Peck said he was not necessarily opposed to appointing Flanagan, he said he thought the council should take into account the fact that voters had chosen not to reelect him in October, when Flanagan lost his seat to Dave Gregory.

"This community elected not to select Kris Flanagan going forward," Peck said. "To [appoint] Kris when the community's voted him down, I think there are some challenges we need to think out."

Juanita Lewis, who made the motion naming Flanagan to the seat, said she appreciated what Peck was trying to do, but that not having a full council shouldn't have stopped them from making the decision.

The council will hold a special meeting Monday to try to reach an agreement. The decision has to be made by December 13.