Written by Marcie Palmer and I have spoken recently about the council appointment process. (Marcie will be Council President when the council makes this appointment, and I will be President Pro-Tem, so we are coordinating on a preferred approach)
Marcie has informed me that our city attorney has determined that, contrary to his preliminary assessment on the matter, Benson Hill residents WOULD theoretically be eligible for appointment after that are annexed on March 1. The new understanding is that for newly annexed areas the 1-year city residency requirement does not apply (as long as they have lived in the annexed area for the previous year.) However, city policy prescribed timelines would have us fill this position in January, and we are probably going to adhere to those unless there is a groundswell of support to deviate. Several citizens have pointed out that North and South Renton, West Hill, Rolling Hills, and other parts of Renton are currently not home to council members either, so it would not be fair to only consider an applicant from Benson Hill. And holding up appointments to get a Benson Hill applicant into the mix could put the final review process would give us another month or two with a missing council member, which becomes questionable policy-wise. We’ve not made a final decision, but I think we are pushing for a January appointment.
Marcie and I have also spoken about the tentative time-line I published earlier, which was developed by our city attorney and our City’s Chief Administrator. After further review, we think we can shorten the process by a week or two, which would have us choosing an applicant in about mid-January.
Marcie and I want to hold a meeting with our attorney and chief administrator to firmly nail down a schedule, which we can then formally advertise to all interested parties. Meanwhile, many people have already expressed interest, and all of you (that the council knows about) will be notified of the formal application process.
The way things are shaping up, I expect to see somewhere around 8 to 12 strong applicants for this open position….maybe more.
Finally, I want to mention to applicants and potential applicants that Marcie and I felt it would be best if we decline one-on-one invitatations to meet with you at this time. While you are kind to offer to help us get to know you better, and we know your intentions are admirable, it could be perceived as unfair for those unable to get on our calenders. Furthermore, if you met with a majority of us, it might get close to the type of issue that Dan Clawson is alleging (falsely!) in his lawsuit.
If you have questions for me, please feel free to leave them as comments below, and I will try to get back to you quickly. As always, you can also email me and my council colleages at city hall, but going to www.rentonwa.gov.
Info on Council Appoitment
Randy, I love your blog as much (if not more) than anyone, but I’m not sure that this really should be the place for applicants (and others) to come to get up-to-date information about the appointment process. Could you please ask the City to put a link and a page on the City website that will be updated throughout the process? And it seems like you should have a city contact to answer questions, such as Julia M (sorry, Julia) instead of leaving them as comments on the blog and having you answer them.
As far as the City’s website goes, I’d also suggest a FAQ page with the basics: 1) residency requirements; 2) length of term (when next election would be); 3) time commitment required; 4) process; 5) pay/benefits; 6) how to apply, etc. etc.
Thanks for keeping us informed; hopefully the City will too.
Re: Info on Council Appoitment
You are right that the city needs to have all this information officially available. I will work this today with city staff. You make a very good point that people should not need to come here to get the latest updates for something of this nature.
Thanks for the suggestion/feedback.
Pick somone honest!
Randy, I’ve made some horrible hiring decisions over and the one thing that I’ve learned is to pick people that are honest.
It’s hard though – dishonest people can put on a fake smile that’s really appealing.
I don’t thing you could do it in your setting – but the litmus test for me is a two pronged test:
1) Do they have animals as pets and do they treat them as family.
2) When you order food at a restaurant, are they nice and friendly to the wait-staff, or are they dismissive.
Good luck!