Recent unfortunate circumstances have brought the Marquette City Commission again to the forefront, with how it handles vacancies on the panel a primary point of contention.

Marquette’s former Mayor Tom Baldini, a man respected by so many in this community and others well across the state of Michigan, passed away in late December.

Baldini’s untimely death left behind not only the suffering and grief of those who knew and admired him, but also a few concerns among Marquette city residents as to how the commission is proceeding with filling the late mayor’s empty seat.

The commission at its meeting Monday decided to follow the same protocol it used in December when it appointed Jenna Smith to the board, by seeking applicants from the community and making a decision among those candidates.

Smith was chosen by commissioners to fill the seat vacated by Sara Cambensy, who left the panel after she was elected in November to the Michigan House of Representatives.

Smith and Cambensy are each serving partial terms in their respective roles, as both seats will be on the ballot come this fall, with Smith finishing off the remainder of Cambensy’s commission term, and Cambensy rounding out the rest of the late John Kivela’s role in the House.

At the time Smith was appointed, the November election results were still fresh, only a few weeks old. And contrary to our recommendation, and the suggestions of several community members who spoke up at public meetings, the commission decided against appointing Tony Ghiringhelli as Cambensy’s replacement.

Out of the candidates on the November ballot who didn’t make the cut for the three open commission seats, Ghiringhelli received the most votes, putting him ultimately in fourth place.

We stated in our editorials then that Ghiringhelli was the appropriate person for the job because he was the candidate who received the support from voters, and we must reiterate that perspective here.

Should commissioners appoint another person of their choosing, that means nearly one-third of the board running the municipality will have been appointed by commissioners themselves, rather than chosen by the city electorate.

With Baldini’s passing, and this new open seat, the commission is in a slightly different situation than it was last fall. Baldini was just re-elected in November to the three-year term, meaning whoever takes over that position will serve until 2020 — roughly two years longer than Smith, and almost nine years total if that person seeks and is successfully re-elected down the road.

It’s our understanding that the city charter doesn’t permit the commission to shorten the length of the three-year terms, which could have allowed this appointee to serve until November, when the seat would have gone up for a public vote.

The commission could choose to hold a special election, but officials said that could cost $22,000, and, in our opinion, that may not be the best use of taxpayer dollars.

However, the November election results are still relatively recent, and if Ghiringhelli still wants the job, commissioners should make the right call.

We maintain the belief that the commission circumvented the public election process by appointing Smith over Ghiringhelli last fall, and we hope commissioners won’t make the same mistake with this open seat.