Lacking a lot of details, but just to point out its entirely normal to request candidates for a job to go through a process when you know perfectly well who you're going to hire already. Just because they're deciding to check some boxes on hiring practices doesn't mean they actually aren't just planning on picking him again
If the racial equity requirements (speaking hypothetically) require that while the officials don't meet some racial criteria they need to solicit candidates whenever a positions term expires, then they have to do that for a good employee as well. Of course, odds are they've got some people on there who aren't doing a great job, and if they'd hired a more competent POC at that point instead of the less competent white person, then they wouldn't have this issue at all. But again, that's all pretty hypothetical.