Out of a wide field of residents who expressed interest, Dan Grover was recently selected to fill a vacancy representing Ward 1 on the Bentonville City Council.

The appointment is temporary, and the position will be on the ballot in November. Grover said he intends to run for the seat.

The vacancy is the result of the resignation of Gayatri Richardson, who stepped down in April.

At their meeting on May 12, City Council members struggled to settle on a process for choosing someone to fill the role before eventually confirming Grover, who is expected to be sworn in at the next meeting on May 26.

After some initial discussion, the City Council voted to hear from the applicants who were present before making a temporary appointment. Voters will ultimately get to decide in November who should represent Ward 1 on the City Council.

While about 20 people expressed interest in the position through an online form, only eight were present at the meeting to give speeches to the council about why they’d be a good pick.

After the applicants finished speaking, Burckart turned to his fellow council members.

“How are we going to handle the vote?” he asked.

Council votes are typically binary — approve or deny — or, at most, a choice between a handful of options. Faced with a longer list of candidates, City Council members had no clear plan for narrowing the field.

With uncertainty over how to proceed, Patterson made a motion to appoint Grover. She said she threw out a name because she did not see another path forward.

“If we have another method of selecting that is better, I am happy to withdraw that motion,” Patterson said. “Does anyone have a better method?”

That did not end the debate. After she nominated Grover, council members continued discussing other ways to narrow the field.

Sanchez proposed a ranked-style ballot where each council member would score all candidates.

While that would be an unusual method for the City Council to make a decision, City Attorney Nick Henry advised that it would be legal so long as the ballots, and all of the points assigned, were read out loud on the record by council members.

During the discussion, Hook returned to a concern raised at a previous meeting: whether the council should appoint someone after all.

“I’m back to where I don’t know that I’m the one that needs to make this decision based on what I’ve heard tonight,” Hook said.

At one point, it was suggested that each council member volunteer their top two choices and then go from there.

Seba, Patterson and Hook all said their top picks were Kimberly Bell and Grover.

“So I feel like we’re all fairly aligned in our thoughts,” Patterson said.

With uncertainty still in the air, the City Council voted on whether to rescind its earlier motion to appoint someone that night.

With Sooter absent, the vote ended in a 3-3 tie. Mayor Stephanie Orman, who can break ties, abstained. Because the motion needed a majority to pass, it failed. Orman said she felt the council needed to make a decision that night.

With no other selection process agreed upon, the City Council moved forward with a vote on Patterson’s nomination of Grover.

All council members present except Burckart voted to appoint him.

Burckart said he was “disturbed” with how the process unfolded.

“We didn’t have a process set up on how we were going to do this … not how we were going to take a vote, not how it was going to be triggered or anything, and I think this is not how you handle things,” said Burckart.

After the vote, Burckart turned to Grover.

“Congratulations,” he said, assuring the next City Council member that his objections were “nothing personal.”

As other applicants began leaving, The Bentonville Bulletin asked the group if anyone wished to comment on the decision. They shook their heads no.

Asked after the meeting what he thought set him apart from the other applicants, Grover pointed to his record of involvement in the city.

“I hope it’s my passion for Bentonville. I hope that’s what it is, because that’s what I feel sets me apart,” Grover said. “I also do have a strong pedigree of city service, 20 years of being involved in city programs.”

Grover also serves as president of the nonprofit Supporters of Bentonville Orchestras and has coached youth sports locally.

Grover has lived more than two decades in Bentonville and worked for Walmart vendors. He and his wife have raised six children, all of whom have attended Bentonville Schools.

After the meeting, Patterson, who nominated Grover, told The Bentonville Bulletin that she had known him for more than 10 years.

“I know his wife and some of his kids, so I did know him previously,” Patterson said. “So I feel like I could really speak for his character. But then looking at his resume, I think his qualifications definitely speak for themselves.”

Grover said that when he first moved to Bentonville around 20 years ago, his property backed up to Patterson’s, meaning they were previously neighbors.

Patterson was the first council member to raise concerns during the April 28 meeting about appointing anyone at all, citing the advantage incumbency gives in future elections.

“I think we all know how elections work, and that incumbents are really hard to beat,” Patterson said on April 28. “I see the need to complete our body. But I also kind of feel like we are definitely swaying the electorate if we appoint someone and let them become the incumbent.”

Patterson said feedback from Ward 1 residents changed her mind.

Each of the city’s four wards is represented by two City Council members. Patterson, who represents Ward 3, said Ward 1 residents told her they wanted the vacant seat filled.

“Someone even said they felt like sometimes one council member doesn’t reply, but then you’ve got another one representing your ward that you can go to,” Patterson said. “If they only had one, they just felt like that quarter of the city was not as represented.”