By JIM BUTLER

Facing an upcoming statutory deadline, the Pineville City Council meets at 1 p.m. today to consider appointing an interim mayor with years of public service.

The published agenda indicates Joe Bishop, parish president and brother of Council President Pro Tempore Mary Galloway, is the designee. Bishop is also the police chief’s cousin.

Bishop, a former three-term Pineville council member, indicated he would accept if the appointment is offered and resign the Ward 9 jury seat.

State law prohibits dual office holding.

The meeting call does not indicate who might be sponsoring any such proposal or conclusions of any informal discussions regarding it.

(Under law, walking-quorums of public bodies are prohibited, but private discussions, including texts and electronic mail, between less than a quorum are permissible.) The council has 20 days from the official resignation of Rich Dupree (October 20) to fill the post, otherwise the governor does.

Questions include:

Can Galloway vote under ethics rules?

Is the appointee prohibited from running for a full term in the next election?

And across the river, who’s lobbying to succeed as jury president if Bishop departs?

Who’s a candidate for appointment to the Ward 9 seat?

Bishop has three times previously been parish president and is a former president of the Police Jury Association of Louisiana and in his 14th year on its executive board.