Kirk Rivers rejoined City Council Monday night less than a month after losing his seat.

Superior Court Judge Russell Duke on Monday granted Rivers' request for a stay of the Pasquotank Elections Board's order that resulted in his removal from council last month.

Duke made the ruling following a one-hour hearing in Pasquotank Superior Court.

The stay in effect suspends the election board's March 26 ruling that Rivers is not a city resident and thus ineligible to serve as a city councilor in the city's 4th Ward. Based on that ruling, City Council had declared Rivers' seat vacant on April 14 and set a date of June 24 for a special election to replace him.

Monday night, City Attorney Bill Morgan said the stay will remain in place at least until the Superior Court rules on the merits of Rivers' appeal of the elections board's decision.

Depending on the outcome, the special election date may have to be changed or canceled altogether, he said. If Rivers wins, there would be no need for the special election, he said.

"The city cannot conduct a special election until the appeal is held on its merits," Morgan said.

Duke said the stay doesn't affect Rivers' appeal, which he couldn't rule on because he hadn't seen a transcript from the two-day hearing on which the elections board based its ruling.

The judge made clear, however, that he was staying the elections board's ruling and allowing Rivers to return to his council seat pending the outcome of his appeal.

Upon hearing of Duke's ruling, City Manager Rich Olson said he placed Rivers' name plate back on the table in front of his former seat on the council dais. And Rivers took his seat Monday night for the first time in a month. He took part in all the votes, and added his opinion about a resolution council approved opposing a proposed statewide moratorium on annexations.

Rivers said the city should clearly state that it is not opposed to voluntary annexations, but is clearly opposed to involuntary annexations — such as several that happened 10 years ago, including the annexation of Oak Grove subdivision before city services were provided.

For his part, Rivers said after Monday's hearing that he remains disappointed that council had set a special election date before his appeal could be decided in court.

Duke granted the stay after hearing arguments from Rivers' lawyer, Anita Earls; Pasquotank County Attorney Mike Cox, the lawyer for the elections board; City attorney Bill Morgan; and Richard Gilbert, the 4th Ward resident who filed the voter residency challenge that led to Rivers losing his seat.

Earls argued that although Rivers had resided at a residence outside the city limits after his marriage last May, he never abandoned his "domicile" at 512 Magnolia Street. Rivers had been using the address in the 4th Ward, the home of his parents, for voting purposes.

Cox told Duke that state election laws consider "residence" and "domicile" as one and the same, and that the elections board determined that Rivers had moved from 512 Magnolia Street with no intent to return there.

In arguing for the stay, Earls said that since the elections board's ruling, Rivers had suffered "irreparable harm" by losing his council seat. She also argued that the special election had been unfairly scheduled when "there's a strong likelihood Mr. Rivers will ultimately succeed" in his appeal of the elections board's ruling.

After Duke's ruling, Earls said she believes the judge saw that Rivers had "followed the law."

For his part, Gilbert said he was less concerned about Duke's granting Rivers a stay than he is on how the court rules on Rivers' appeal.

"I am fully confident on prevailing on the appeal," Gilbert said. "I'm hoping the city will work just as hard for a speedy hearing (on the appeal)."

Judge Duke, who granted the city's request for a speedy resolution of the appeal, urged Earls to contact Resident Superior Court Judge Richard Parker and schedule a hearing on the appeal.

Earls said she hadn't requested a hearing on the appeal yet because, like Duke, she hadn't read the transcript from the elections board's hearing. She said her plan is to seek the hearing and "get this resolved quickly."

Since his removal from City Council, Rivers has changed his voter registration to 706 Hampton Drive, an address that is in the 4th Ward. Rivers had maintained that he and his wife were living at her parents' house at 101 Madeline Lane, outside the city limits, only temporarily until their house on Hampton Drive was ready to move in.

Morgan said the city is still awaiting Justice Department approval of the June 24 special election date. Filing for the election began last week. Thus far two candidates have filed for the election, former 4th Ward City Councilman Johnnie Walton and first-time candidate Leonard N.

Bartlett Sr.