The Administrative Professional Staff Council will have some new faces in leadership for the next three years.

The council met Wednesday in Anthony Hall to announce results of the general election: current councilwoman Kathy Jones, and new members Shane Bennett, Wayne Glass and Matt Taitt. Proposed changes to future election rules and vacancies were also discussed.

Jones said the inclusion of these new members will help inject fresh ideas and thoughts into discussions.

“It’s always exciting when we have new members come in because it gives us new blood, new ideas,” Jones said. “With the exception of me, all of those folks will be new councilmembers.”

Councilmembers also discussed changes to election rules, which clarify and update clauses. One change is to allow at least two weeks for nominations when a vacancy is declared and at least a week for balloting to take place.

Jones said she hopes this new vacancy provision will allow new members to be voted in if the proposed increase in the size of the council passes. This will allow all the openings to be filled immediately instead of waiting for annual elections to take place.

While a decision has yet to be made, Jones said she hopes the increase will become a reality.

“My biggest hope is that with reconfiguring the council so that we have eight sectors for the constituents instead of the two we have now will connect people more closely to the council so we will have better turnout in the elections,” Jones said. “So I’m really looking forward to increasing the number of sectors.”

Matt Daray can be reached at [email protected] or at 536-3311 ext. 254.