The only major business on tonight’s Lawrence City Commission agenda is the appointment and swearing in of a new commissioner to fill the seat left vacant by the resignation of former Mayor Jeremy Farmer.

Last week, the commission narrowed the field to two people: Lisa Larsen and Scott Morgan. Barring any surprises, one of those two will be sworn into office tonight and hopefully will be ready to hit the ground running.

In the nearly two months since Farmer left the commission, city business has been stacking up. Discussion of options to meet the Lawrence Police Department’s facility needs has been on hold, as have key decisions needed to allow a number of local development projects and other city projects to move forward.

In some of those cases, issues may have been intentionally delayed until the commission was at full force. Even with four commissioners, a majority of three was required to pass any measure, meaning there was less room for dissent on any given issue. A tie on the four-member commission would leave a decision in limbo.

The commission’s agenda for the last several weeks has been pretty much bare bones. Restoring the commission to full strength will allow it to get back to work on a number of key issues. Although the top item is the hiring of a new city manager, commissioners don’t need to fill that position before making decisions on a number of other projects and initiatives.

Neither Morgan nor Larsen has previously served on the commission, and whichever one is appointed will face a steep learning curve. Hopefully, the appointee will be a quick study. The commission — and consequently the city’s business — has been in a bit of a holding pattern for the last several weeks, and it needs to get back to work.