Mandy Young will fill the vacated seat of former Bartlett Alderwoman Emily Elliott until the winner of the Nov. 8 municipal election takes office.

The Board of Mayor and Aldermen chose Young for the Position 2 seat Tuesday evening, July 12, and swore her in to begin the role immediately.

Elliott stepped down last month. 

“My passion is this city,” said Young, who has lived in Bartlett since 1986. “I want to see it be the best it can be, and so I just want to be able to be involved and make the best choices for the city.”

She was picked from a pool of four candidates who submitted resumes to the BMA, including Ed Brooks, James Lamb, and Brandon Weise. Former Bartlett Alderwoman Paula Sedgwick had also applied for the position but withdrew her name from consideration last month.

Each alderman and Mayor A. Keith McDonald nominated their top two candidates, and Young received the most votes after being selected by all five participating elected officials.

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“I’ve served with (Young) for a number of years on the Planning Commission. Her interest is in Bartlett. She’s been here a long time, and I think she’ll do a good job serving the city,” said Vice Mayor Jack Young, who is not related.

Alderman David Parsons was looking for someone who had prior dealings with the government.

“The two people I chose serve on the Planning Commission rather than just pulling somebody off the street, putting them in the seat and letting them make decisions. I felt like they should be a little more familiar with the process,” he said.

Young is the current chairwoman of the Bartlett Planning Commission as well as a member of the city’s Historic Board. She works for ALSAC St. Jude as as a senior liaison – IT talent architect.

“I’m usually not one with few words to say, but I was actually speechless,” Young said of being chosen. “It’s a great privilege and honor to be selected. Emily was an icon. She served for a long time, and no one could ever fill her place, but for the next nine meetings I hope I can do the best I can do for the City of Bartlett.”

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Alderman Kevin Quinn has known Young for eight years, has served on commissions with her and was part of the same Leadership Bartlett class in 2019.

“She’s just an outstanding person, and she really loves Bartlett and is very dedicated,” Quinn said. “She has the time and the energy to be very active, so I’m very excited to have her on board even for a short time.”

Young considered a run in the November election to fill the position but recently decided not to do so this year. Quinn hopes to be able to convince her to run when the next batch of alderman positions comes up for election in two years.