Written by Several citizens have recently asked about about the expected process we will use for filling the newly-identified council vacancy. These emails, from our Chief administrative officer and city attorney, will answer most of your questions.
From: “Larry Warren” <ljwarren@seanet.com> [ Save Address ]
To: “‘Jay Covington'” <jcovington@ci.renton.wa.us>, “‘Denis Law'” <dlaw@ci.renton.wa.us>, “‘Don Persson'” <dpersson@ci.renton.wa.us>, “‘Marcie Palmer'” <mpalmer@ci.renton.wa.us>, “‘Randy Corman'” <rcorman@ci.renton.wa.us>, “‘Terri Briere'” <tbriere@ci.renton.wa.us>, “‘King Parker'” <king@kingandbunnys.com>, “‘Greg Taylor'” <gt@theadvancedmortgagegroup.com>
Subject: RE: Policy Governing Filling Council Vacancies
Date: Thu, 13 Dec 2007 12:31:10 -0800
To answer a question asked by Mayor-elect Law, RCW 35A.12.030 requires residence within the city of one year to be eligible to be a councilmember. That requirement is reflected in policy 800-10, forwarded to you by Jay. Please contact me if you have further questions.
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From: Jay Covington [mailto:Jcovington@ci.renton.wa.us]
Sent: Thursday, December 13, 2007 11:30 AM
To: Denis Law; Don Persson; Marcie Palmer; Randy Corman; Terri Briere; King Parker; Greg Taylor
Cc: Bonnie Walton; Julia Medzegian; Marty Wine; Larry Warren
Subject: Policy Governing Filling Council Vacancies
Mayor-elect Law, Council members, and Council members-elect,
Several of you have asked or been asked questions regarding the procedure for replacing Councilman Clawson, who announced his resignation from the City Council, effective January 1, 2008. I have attached Policy and Procedure 800-10 “Filling Council Vacancies” for your information. The Council last reviewed and adopted this policy in April of 2005. The policy follows State law insofar as eligibility requirements are concerned (registered voter, city resident for at least one year). Procedure section 6 outlines the process for announcing the vacancy, advertising the vacancy, establishing time lines for submitting letters of interest and any related information, and Council time lines for deliberation and selection.
As January includes a Monday holiday, the time lines of the policy and procedure could be as follows:
January 7: Mayor acknowledges the vacancy and requests interested qualified citizens to submit letters of interest and additional materials as identified by the Mayor and Council at that meeting.
January 7: Council establishes 1) a date and time for letters to be submitted to the City Clerk; and 2) announces January 28th as the future Committee of the Whole meeting to review submitted materials. This seems to meet the intent of procedure 6.1.2., while giving at least two weeks (actually three with the holiday) for interested parties to submit.
January 8: clerk posts the vacancy, etc. (see procedure 6.1.3)
by January 24th: Clerk prepares information packets (procedure 6.1.4)
January 28: per procedure 6.1.6, at Committee of the Whole meeting, Council reviews and deliberates candidates and their submitted materials (procedure 6.1.5)
February 4th: Council continues review and deliberation if necessary, and then either 1) selects a candidate by majority vote, or 2) selects a slate of candidates to interview at the next Committee of the Whole meeting. If option 2 is selected, then the process continues through February as outlined below.
February 5th: Clerk notifies candidates, if needed (6.1.7)
February 11th: Conduct interviews, if needed (see procedure 6.2)
February 18th: President’s Day Holiday
February 25th: Council nominates candidate per procedure 6.3, and selects a candidate by majority vote.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to call,
Jay
Process for filling vacancy
If we’ve learned anything in 2007, I hope it is the importance of public input whether on airport issues, wetlands protection, helipads, or comments on this site regarding the need for representation of under-represented areas of Renton (e.g. West Hill, Talbot Hill, etc.).
Thank you for sharing the process to fill the vacancy on Council prompted by Dan Clawson’s resignation. The one problem I see with the process is that there is absolutely no public input at a public meeting regarding the candidates. Randy, you are level headed and have worked to give citizens an opportunity to speak on issues at Council meetings.
I would suggest that after the application period ends that a public hearing be conducted where members of the public may address the Council and speak on behalf of their preferred candidate. Under the current system, people are required to hitch their horse to a post without knowing who the candidates are. And there will be people purporting it’s more of the same with too much influence of certain areas and social circles of Renton.
This is a good opportunity for Mayor Law to show the new spirit of leadership for our City by ensuring public input at a public hearing for this vacancy.
Thank you for your site which provides a great forum for our citizens!
Elizabeth Stevens
Re: Process for filling vacancy
Elizabeth,
Allow me to respectfully disagree a *bit*…
I elected my leaders to do their job and make tough decisions, and quite frankly if the council/mayor determine their decision based on the input from the public who show up to council meetings, we’d be in bad shape.
The public that shows up to the meetings typically have an ‘issue’ that is really important to them – and they’re willing to go the extra mile to help. BUT the people who don’t go to the meetings are important as well – the poor worker who’s too tied to go the meeting, the stay at home mom that has to watch the kids etc… people like me.
Leadership can be about giving the public a ‘voice’, but it can also be getting the facts together and making a decision that may be difficult.
Just my two cents, and 80% concur with you, but wanted to throw my silly thoughts out.
Obviously, Randy appreciates open discussion – hence is website/blog so we probably won’t listen to my admonitions
😉
Re: Process for filling vacancy
I couldn’t agree more about electing our leaders to do the job they are elected to do and making the tough decisions! Good points!
The current process is to fill the vacancy by having interested candidates submit information. I recommend the public meeting with public comments as part of that fact finding phase you mention, since council members may not know each candidate or the depth of abilities each can contribute. After collecting this information, the council members then make the decision.
Filling Dan Clawson’s seat isn’t open for an election but, given how divisive the past few years have been, providing an opportunity for public comment better equips our council to make a sound decision and avoid the perception of drawing from the same pool.
We have a great group of city council members, and I am looking forward to Denis Law’s positive leadership in the New Year!
Elizabeth
Re: Process for filling vacancy
Elezabeth, you seem sane…. put your own hat into the ring? 😉
What was amazing to me was to hear from Randy’s point of view how Dan started off OK and then degenerated to something other than that. I
Perhaps this is why we have term limits – but at the same time, we’d miss people like Randy.
I propose the following questions to put to the candidates:
1) Do you like to rummage through trash?
2) Like airplane noise?
3) Can you write in cursive? With lipstick?
(kidding)
Re: Process for filling vacancy
LOL! Likely the first time those questions will have been asked together of potential representatives! I’ve enjoyed watching the presidential debates with the YouTube format. Could you imagine Mitt or Hillary (or any of the candidates) being asked, “Do you like to rummage through trash?” 🙂
Actually, Randy’s site would be a good place for people to suggest questions that City Council members could ask of potential candidates.
Elizabeth 🙂
Re: Process for filling vacancy
I think Elizabeth has proposed a really interesting idea regarding obtaining public feedback on the proposed appointment, however we would have to give a lot of thought to the implementation.
If we were to try to do this, some things we would need to think about:
It would be really important that we don’t let feedback turn into a “roast” of any kind, as applicants may not have all the avenues normally available in a campaign to respond to criticisms. For instance, I would not want people to say anything negative about someone else, without lots of opportunity to review the truthfulness.
Giving equal time in such a situation may be tricky, especially if there were many candidates but a few well-known “front-runners”. It may be hard to get public commentary to spread out evenly…although it may be possible.
What role would the internet play….would we have question and answer sites…would applicants have their own sites? The internet was not very developed when we last filled two vacancies in 2000.
On a related note, do you think I should give the names in here of those people who have expressed interest in the position?
Best Wishes,
Randy
Re: Process for filling vacancy
You ask:
On a related note, do you think I should give the names in here of those people who have expressed interest in the position?
Answer: No. Wait until letters of interest are actually submitted, then give us a list.
Re: Process for filling vacancy
“Public Comment” on an applicant seems misguided. First, what good is it to line up a bunch of supporters to come to the podium and say how great you are? Isn’t that what references are for?
The alternative is to line up to bad mouth other candidates. That is completely unreasonable and I am sure it will have a chilling effect on applications. If I were willing to give my time and effort to be considered to be selected by council to serve Dan’s remaining two years, I surely wouldn’t apply if I had to sit by while supporters of other candidates bad mouth me (and your blog may unwittingly create the same unease in potential applicants).
The council, which has been elected to make decisions, will make its SELECTION for a replacement to serve the remaining two years of Dan’s seat. Then, in 2009, an ELECTION by the citizens of Renton will fill position 2 with with the people’s choice for the next four years. Two different things. At this time, let the council decide and fill the vacancy; then let the people pick in 2009.
That’s my two-cents worth.
Re: Process for filling vacancy
I believe the way it works is as follows:
* Council appoints a person to fill the open position until the next general election.
* The person appointed to fill the position stands for election at the next general election (November 2008).
* The person elected to fill the partial term stands for election at that position’s next general election (November 2009).
Essentially, as I understand the process, the person would be up for “re-election” two years in a row before serving their 4-year term. If that is the case, Council would only be filling a vacancy for a little less than one year, and that person would stand for election next November.
Randy, please correct me if I’m wrong.
Colin Walker
Re: Process for filling vacancy
Randy,
Very good points. This really could turn out to be a circus, couldn’t it? The suggestion was with the best of intentions. Campaigning has taken such a negative turn over the years. Do we trust human nature to operate within parameters of limiting comments to positive qualifications of his/her candidate, with no negative comments or digs about others? One would hope this to be feasible, enabling citizens to have a voice, but now I’m envisioning the “roast” that truly could ensue.
And your closing question is a good one to ask. Should the names of interested parties be disclosed? My immediate thought is, “Yes! I’d like to know the folks that would like to represent our neighborhoods.” I’d be honored to represent our neighborhoods and included in such a list. After all, names are disclosed on ballots at election. It would make sense to disclose names.
BUT, posting the names on your site exposes innocent individuals to being unfairly ripped apart in postings by “anonymous” parties. That would not be fair to the potential candidates or their families. I’ve got a tough hide, but I remember posting a comment quite a few months ago and signing my name and suddenly being blasted by the near psychotic ramblings of an “anonymous” writer. And you wouldn’t/shouldn’t be in a position of editing what comments make it on your site. Interesting dilemma.
Thanks for this site and the exchange of ideas. It would be interesting to hear if others think there is a way to have public comment re: filling this vacancy, or if it’s best to just have a decision made without public input.
Best always,
Elizabeth
Re: Process for filling vacancy
At least a forum for the council hopefuls to stand up before the city and state their case would be helpful. I think there is some cynicism about the process being too “connection” driven to be fair to outsiders. From what I’ve seen, Rentonites would have no problem voicing their opinions if they had some idea of what priorities the candidates represent. There is no reason Council could not take citizen input into consideration during their deliberations. Ideally, that is what they do in all of their decisions.
Re: Process for filling vacancy
>> my name and suddenly being blasted by the near psychotic ramblings of an “anonymous” writer.
Hey! I’m only partially psychotic!
(kidding)
!!!!!!!!!!!!
Can ANYONE who’s a Renton citizen apply for consideration?
If so, prediction: the soon-to-be-ex Mayor will throw her hat in the ring!
Re: !!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh, my God, she probably will.
Re: !!!!!!!!!!!!
Or a “Stan Crawson” with a trench coat, long beard, and sun glasses will try to get onto Council.