If you do not know that they will step down from the position when the original player comes back, should a leader punish them for resigning? It's obvious from my experience that one can not reappoint the player who went inactive if someone steps down. Should we then have someone else take the position and then at some point down the road the inactive person would be eligible?
The inactive person is never ineligible.
What you need to do is make clear that you are only interested in appointing someone who wants to keep the position—not someone who wants the original person back in office, not someone who says, "Well, I can do it temporarily," not someone who's completely unprepared for it, and not someone you haven't consulted at all.
This really isn't that difficult.
