Wasilla council to vote Monday on a plan to fill Mayor Rubeo's old council seat

The Wasilla City Council is scheduled to consider a resolution Monday, Oct. 26, that would open applications Nov. 9 for the council seat Mayor Alina Rubeo left when she took office.

Under the resolution, applications would close at 5 pm Nov. 20. The council would interview applicants and consider an appointment at a special meeting Nov. 30, the Monday after Thanksgiving.

That's a week later than Council Member Ian Crafton expected. When the council certified Rubeo's win Oct. 14, he said a decision would likely come Nov. 23 and that he and Council Member Stu Graham had talked about finishing "before we got too deep into the holidays," Alaska News reported Oct. 15. City code gives the council 45 days to fill a vacancy, with some exceptions.

City code requires council members to be registered to vote in city elections and to have lived in the city for a year. The appointee would hold Seat F until a successor is elected at the 2027 city election. That person would finish the term, which ends in October 2028.

Rubeo took office Oct. 19, and city code bars the mayor from also serving on the council. She won Seat F unopposed in 2025 with 251 votes. She won the mayor's race Oct. 6 with 585 votes, or 67.2%.

City Clerk Jamie Newman would run the process, and notice of the vacancy would go up on the city's website and social media Oct. 27. The council could discuss applicants in a closed-door executive session only with a legal reason, and applicants could ask that the discussion happen in public instead.