COLD SPRING -- The entire Cold Spring city council was shocked as Mayor Bob Thelen resigned from his position during tonight's (Tuesday) council meeting.

Thelen made the official statement during the open public forum portion of the meeting. The former mayor thanked the community and council members before leaving his seat.

The council was unaware that Thelen was planning to resign and they had to quickly decide on a temporary solution for replacing his position. After a short discussion the council decided to appoint council member Fran Ramler as mayor until the end of the year.

City Administrator Brigid Murphy says she will be reviewing the decision to make sure the process was done properly.

"We kind of got thrown for a loop on what the procedures were, we want to get that fifth council member in so we appointed a mayor [Ramler] and now I have to make sure what we did was the proper way. So I will be reviewing that with our city attorney, the legal Minnesota cities and go from there."

Ramler was Thelen's acting mayor for when Thelen was not present for meetings or other city obligations. Ramler is currently running for mayor for next term against city council member Dave Heinen.

Ramler says he feels honored that the council chose him to take over the mayor position.

"It's kind of nice, they feel like I have enough, what do you call it in me, [experience] to run the city. So I felt pretty good that they felt I could do the job."

Murphy says by the next council meeting, September 27, they will be able to confirm if they took the correct procedures.

Thelen was a long time council member before taking over the mayor position in 2014.

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