An American flag and a police officer's cap will adorn Deputy Mayor Mike Hirter's empty seat at the St. Joseph City Council's next meeting.

The gesture will honor the three-plus decades Mr. Hirter gave the city as a police officer, police chief and deputy mayor. But the tribute won't be complete until someone new sits at Mr. Hirter's desk and begins his or her own service for the citizens of St. Joseph.

"The only thing we've talked about so far is that each person will submit a name from their district of someone they think is qualified and we'll go from there," Mayor Ken Shearin said.

The council has some freedom in its choice of who will fill the seat. The City Charter's only requirements are that a majority of the remaining council members must approve the new member and the vote should be taken "in a timely manner." Because Mr. Hirter was elected as an at-large council member, his replacement may come from any of the city's five districts.

Mayor Ken Shearin said he hopes the council fills the spot in about four weeks.

"To me a timely manner means after this has sunk in," Mr. Shearin said. "We're not going to rush it by any means, out of respect for Mike."

The council filled its vacancy in a similar time frame the past two times a member died in office. John Shea left an opening in the 2nd District when he died July 31, 2005. The council chose Joyce Starr from a field of seven applicants on Sept. 20, 2005.

Mark Youngdahl's death on Sept. 17, 1994, left the council with an at-large opening for roughly one month. David Jones was selected Oct. 20, 1994, from an initial field of 17 applicants. Mr. Jones held the seat for eight years, then served four more as the city's mayor.

Though the council accepted applications for its previous two openings, the charter does not require it to do so.

The person who fills Mr. Hirter's seat will not necessarily become the deputy mayor.

"Because this is the deputy mayor position that we're filling, I don't know if we want to bring a new person in for nine months and give them that responsibility right away," Mr. Shearin said.

The post traditionally has gone to the at-large council member who receives the most votes in the general election. Mr. Hirter received 11,289 votes in 2006, compared to Donna Jean Boyer's 8,254 and Bill Falkner's 6,197.

The mayor said he does not yet know how he will handle Mr. Hirter's committee assignments. Mr. Hirter chaired the council finance/audit committee and served on the landfill and water pollution committee and communications committee.

Flags at all city facilities will be lowered to half-staff in honor of Mr. Hirter until after his burial Wednesday.

Clinton Thomas can be reached at clintonthomas@npgco.com.