Something was missing from the first City Council meeting of the new legislative year Tuesday night.

It was too quiet. Elected officials met, discussed and acted on new business, yet the meeting ended with a blaring void of officiousness.

The town crier was missing. 

For years official town crier William North-Rudin literally rang in the legislative season with a bell and a booming bellow: Here ye, here ye, etcetera. But, this year, North-Rudin was nowhere to be found, because the city is currently without an official loudmouth. He resigned at the citys birthday celebration before moving away.

Were in the middle of transitioning for a new one, said city spokesman Tony Castrilli.

Mayor Bill Euille, who gets to appoint the new town crier, has at least one applicant a man who bid on dinner with the mayor and put a bug in his ear but said there needs to be some sort of competitive process.

Until then, King Street remains quiet.