Two years after tie vote, Sean McCoy sworn into Missoula City Council seat
City officials swore in candidate Sean McCoy to the Ward 6 Missoula City Council seat on Friday afternoon following a special election process for the position.
McCoy, a local farmer and the past chair of the Missoula Consolidated Planning Board, will serve a term through 2027 that was made possible by a rare tie vote for the seat in 2023.
“I am really looking forward to building relationships with our fellow council members, and the city and my constituents,” McCoy told the Missoulian shortly after the ceremony. “I really feel like communication and just building bridges and getting to know each other better will help all of us learn and begin to see how our city functions.”
McCoy was familiar with the election process before this cycle. In 2023, he ran for the Ward 6 seat against then-incumbent Sandra Vasecka. The two officially tied in the race, requiring the city council to appoint the winner.
The council voted 7-5 to keep Vasecka on council in 2023.
The appointment process teed up an additional state-required election for 2025, instead of a normal four-year term. McCoy ousted Vasecka in the rematch this November.
“Because it is filling a vacancy, that person then serves immediately following the election, rather than starting in the first Monday in January,” City Clerk Claire Trimble said.
Ward 6 represents the River Road and Franklin to the Fort neighborhoods.
McCoy told the Missoulian on Friday he plans to keep up with policy proposals that Vasecka had worked on the past six years. She exited council earlier on Wednesday.
Some of those policies include limiting city tax increases and lowering the share of public sidewalk construction costs for homeowners.
“I am going to take as much of her agenda that I can and keep moving those forward,” McCoy said. “There’s a lot things she was doing that I fully support and I want to continue moving those projects forward.”
Missoula Mayor Andrea Davis oversaw the ceremony. She told the crowd of mainly other city officials and McCoy’s family that he is continuing the “great experiment of democracy.”
“I look forward to working with you as we are developing policies and working on great things for our community, including places for people to play and get outside and keep people safe,” Davis said.
McCoy said he plans to continue his work around the city’s draft Unified Development Code, which would guide things like density and building design across all city neighborhoods.
The rest of the elected city councilors, Mayor Davis and the city’s three municipal court judges will be sworn in on Monday, Jan. 5 at 9 a.m. in city council chambers.
The Missoula City Council will next meet on, Monday, Dec. 8.
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