San Carlos appears set to remain without an official mayor until early June when a replacement will be named for Mayor Omar Ahmad, who died suddenly of a heart attack earlier this month.

Applications are being taken through June 3 for residents interested in filling Ahmad’s space on the City Council. However, councilmembers failed to come to an agreement this week on who should succeed Ahmad as mayor.

Vice Mayor Andy Klein, who has been acting mayor since Ahmad’s May 10 death, withdrew his name from consideration Monday after apologizing to fellow councilmembers and the public for being arrested on suspicion of drunken driving May 12. Prosecutors have since said they do not intend to file charges against Klein.

On Monday, Klein made a motion to nominate Randy Royce for mayor, an office Royce held in 2010.

The motion, however, failed to pass when the council returned a split decision.

Royce and Klein supported the motion, and Matt Grocott and Bob Grassilli voted against it.

Grocott called the San Carlos City Council a “wounded animal,” and suggested the decision to select a mayor be postponed until a fifth councilmember could be appointed and potentially nominated for the office.

“It would help to heal the community,” Grocott said.

Grocott suggested that the City Council consider appointing former city councilman and mayor Tom Davids to fill Ahmad’s seat.

“He follows everything that we do and he’s done the job before,” Grocott said.

Royce said that all four councilmembers were qualified to serve as mayor and warned that appointing someone without public input who wasn’t elected by the community could potentially betray voter confidence.

“All four of us here are qualified,” Royce said. “We are up here because the voters voted for us.”

The council unanimously agreed to revisit the issue at a special meeting to be scheduled in the second week of June, after applications for City Council candidates could be accepted and reviewed and a fifth member could be appointed. Klein will continue to act as mayor until then.

The window for accepting applications for new council members will close at the end of the business day on June 3.

— Staff and wire reports