Every elected official who took part in Monday’s Huntersville Town Board meeting will be on the ballot this November. And every one of them took every opportunity to comment and campaign just a little on almost every topic on the board’s agenda.

Commissioner Ron Julian (seeking re-election) and Commissioner Danae Caulfield (a candidate for mayor) grabbed chances to pose questions or, depending on the issue, heap praise. Commissioner Charles Jeter, (up for re-election) as usual gleefully served as the board’s designated burr under the saddle. Commissioner Sarah McAulay (seeking re-election) picked opportune moments to demonstrate her stately and stateswoman-like manner. And even Mayor Jill Swain (seeking re-election) grabbed the few chances she had to cheerlead.

But when the topic turned to selecting a person to fill the board seat vacated in June by Ken Lucas, suddenly the cicadas singing outside became noticeable. The item was the last on the agenda and had it not been for the awkward silence between Swain’s reading of the item and Jeter’s motion to adjourn, it may have gone unnoticed.

The meaning of the indifference seems clear. There will not be a fifth commissioner on the board until all six seats are filled in November’s election. Three commissioners are hoping to retain their places on the board and eight others have joined in the fray. The current commissioners, apparently, have no interest in adding a new person to the mix and absolutely no motive to give an announced candidate incumbent status. And, according to Town Attorney Bob Blythe, there’s no clear requirement that the seat has to be filled prior to the election.

“Basically,” Blythe says, “the statute states that, in the event of a vacancy, commissioners shall appoint a successor. But in the case of city statutes, it doesn’t say when that needs to be done. And the remaining question is does that mean they are mandated to fill it, or are they just the ones who can do it, if they decide to.”

In other words, the town attorney doesn’t think in this situation, the commissioners are obligated to appoint a successor.

“There was at least one professor at the Institute of Government who thought the board was supposed to fill the vacancy in a timely manner,” Blythe says, “but some of her colleagues disagree on whether it’s a requirement. The professionals haven’t focused on this and there isn’t any case law to go by.”

When Lucas announced his decision to step down, Blythe was questioned by commissioners about their obligations. His research indicated that some counties in North Carolina give town boards 60 days to fill a vacant seat and, after that ,the clerk of court has the authority to select a replacement. In other counties and in most towns, including Huntersville, there is no such rule.

But Blythe says if an election wasn’t on the not-too-distant horizon, things would be different.

“There are terms like ‘reasonable amount of time” in the statutes,” Blythe says with practiced legal ambiguity, “and without making a call on this either way, I would say the general consensus is that the further you have to go before an election, the more appropriate it would be to name a replacement.”

But from his seat at the dais Monday night, Blythe didn’t see any indication that the Huntersville board has plans to act.

“Judging from how quiet it got,” Blythe says, “it would seem to be that the members of the board have decided.”