This afternoon the City Council announced the list of thirteen candidates who have applied to replace Rob Johnson on the City Council and met the eligibility requirements. It also provided a bit more guidance on the next steps toward choosing among the thirteen.
Today the City Clerk delivered to the Council the names of fifteen people who applied by the deadline last Friday. Two of them don’t live in District 4 and are thus not qualified to fill the position; the other thirteen are eligible to be considered. Their names are:
- Brooke Brod
- Darby DuComb
- Kathryn Gardow
- David A. Goldberg
- Jordan Goldwarg
- Sherae Lascelles
- Jay Lazerwitz
- Juan Martinez
- Abel Pacheco Jr.
- Marjorie Press
- Bruce Rips
- Maritza Rivera
- Luke Wigren
Tomorrow the City Clerk will publish the candidates’ completed application materials to the Council website. UPDATE: the list of candidates, with applications, is now posted.
This Friday evening from 5:30pm to 8:30pm there will be a public forum in the Bertha Knight Landes Room in City Hall. Thirty five community organizations were invited to be involved in the development of the forum as well as in the forum itself; however, Council President Harrell said this morning that none have expressed interest in helping to develop/organize it, though two (the Transit Riders Union and the NAACP) have expressed interest in participating. Harrell said that the logistics of the public forum are still being worked out, but he has asked Brian Callanan of the Seattle Channel to host it. More details will be made public later this week.
The City Council will meet on April 17th to give applicants the opportunity to formally present for three minutes, and to respond to questions from City Council members.
The Council noted in a press release today that it expects to hold its first vote to fill the vacancyon Monday, April 22. Under the City Charter, the Council has until April 25 to choose someone by majority vote; if it has not chosen someone by then, it is required to meet every business day to hold another vote until the vacancy is filled.
Beyond the public forum, members of the public can provide public comment to the Council at next Monday’s full Council meeting, the special Council meeting on April 17th, and the Council meeting on April 22nd.
What went missing from today’s information-dump is any mention of the Council choosing a set of finalists next Monday, as specified in Harrell’s original memo on March 21. I have a request in to the Council’s spokesperson for clarification. UPDATE: a spokesperson for the Council has confirmed that the Council still plans on reducing the field to a set of finalists next Monday.
Are these folks not excluded from running for the seat in November like last time? At least one is on Crosscut’s list of candidates.
Harrell has said that he would prefer that the Council choose someone who is not running for office; however, there is nothing in the City Charter that prohibits a candidate from applying or being appointed, so it will be up to the Council to decide.
Looks like Abel Pacheco is the only declared candidate on that list.