Longtime Ward 5 councilmember Nancy Erickson submitted her resignation yesterday. In her letter to City Manager Nate Mathews, she said “the council is moving Bemidji in fundamental directions” she cannot support and that she is “no longer able to effectively represent citizens with confidence.”
Her resignation is effective immediately, and it comes a day after a tense meeting where the council voted 4-3 to move towards terminating the Sanford Center operating relationship with VenuWorks.
Erickson was re-elected to her seat last November and has more than three years left in her fifth four-year term.
The council will need to pass a resolution declaring the vacancy to proceed with a special election.
That declaration will likely come during the next regular meeting of the council on Sept. 20.
Due to a fairly recent change in state election law, the earliest this special election could take place is in February.
