Updated, 5 p.m. Wednesday:
In the wake of Kansas City, Mo., Councilman Michael Brooks' resignation, Mayor Sly James says his focus is on filling the empty 5th district seat.
"We're not looking for someone who can warm a chair. We're going to look for someone who can do the job," James said at a press conference Wednesday afternoon.
Brooks stepped down Wednesday amid allegations he choked a former aide in a series of incidents between 2012 and 2014. He's vehemently denied those accusations through his lawyer.
James would only say he's "disappointed" by the situation.
"I don’t have any reaction to the allegations," says James. "It’s not our position or place to make a decision or reach a judgment on who’s right and who’s wrong."
He says he hopes the council can conduct interviews quickly and appoint someone to the 5th district seat by the end of next month. James says the council won't consider candidates running in the April election.
According to the official resignation letter Brooks sent to James and the council, he will leave the council, effective Jan. 2.
"Due to the ongoing media circus, and out of concern for my family, loved ones, colleagues, church members and citizens of Kansas City, as well as myself, I believe it is in everyone’s best interest to take this action at this time," Brooks wrote. "I will clear out my office over the holidays."
The Kansas City Star reports that former aide Tonia Titus has accused Brooks of choking, punching and slapping her in several different confrontations from March 2012 to November 2014. The Kansas City Police Department has investigated the allegations. Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker has asked for a special prosecutor to be appointed to the case.
Titus filed a police report on Nov. 9. City Attorney Bill Geary sent a memo out Wednesday noting that Brooks denies any wrongdoing.
