The St. Paul City Council is welcoming its newest member ahead of important housing votes that will impact thousands of renters.

Matt Privratsky, a St. Paul resident, was appointed by Mayor Melvin Carter to serve in the Ward 4 seat temporarily until the special election in August.

His swearing-in ceremony is on Wednesday.

Former council president and Ward 4 representative Mitra Jalali stepped down in January, citing mental health challenges, which left the seat open.

Privratsky served as Jalali’s legislative aide for three years back in 2018.

“I know what her priorities were, and this really is, in a sense, like filling out the rest of her seat,” he said. “The housing votes that are coming up in particular are issues I’ve worked for a really long time, and I care a lot about.”

“Is it fair for an unelected official to be able to have so much power when it comes to making those big decisions?” a 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS reporter asked Council President Rebecca Noecker.

“It’s a fair question. At the same time, what would be most unfair would be for the people of Ward 4 to continue to not have any representation for any longer,” Noecker answered.

Noecker pointed to state law that says they only have 30 days to appoint a successor if a council member resigns. Then, there has to be a special election in six months.

State law says the successor is not able to run in the special election in August.

“I think all of us here on the council feel a sense of urgency about tackling the big issues and about showing up every day to get the work done,” she said. “I’m thrilled that we are back up to seven council members. It is really important to be up to our full strength because we’ve got a lot of things to get done.”

For the next four months, that seventh vote will come from Privratsky until a long-term ward four candidate is elected by the community in August.

“If you need someone who can quickly handle the job, quickly come in and be a good partner, knows how city hall works, knows these housing issues, that’s something I’m very comfortable doing,” Privratsky said.