BUSINESS OF THE CITY COUNCIL CITY OF MERCER ISLAND, WA

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1 BUSINESS OF THE CITY COUNCIL CITY OF MERCER ISLAND, WA AB 4600 January 18, 2011 Regular Business CITY COUNCIL VACANCY - APPOINTMENT Proposed Council Action: Appoint new Councilmember to Position No. 1 DEPARTMENT OF COUNCIL LIAISON City Manager (Ali Spietz) n/a EXHIBITS 1. AB 4597 without exhibits (1/13/2011) APPROVED BY CITY MANAGER AMOUNT OF EXPENDITURE $ n/a AMOUNT BUDGETED $ n/a APPROPRIATION REQUIRED $ n/a SUMMARY The City Council is seeking to fill the vacant position left by Steve Litzow who resigned December 31, The position was advertised on City s website, in the MI Weekly and the Mercer Island Reporter and closed on December 30, In alphabetical order, the candidates are: Robert Bersos Deborah L. Bertlin Adam Cooper Patricia M. Patti Darling Jon Friedman Aaron Kornblum David Laub Steven C. Marshall Jane Meyer Brahm Craig A. Pedersen Clark Powell Rachel Reynolds Tana Senn Aric Weiker David Wells Carrie Wernick Newman Mary A. Yakmoto At the Special Council Meeting of January 13, 2011, the candidates were invited to address the Council and the Council was provided with each candidate s application packet. APPOINTMENT PROCESS At Monday s meeting, Council will follow the process outlined below for filling the vacancy. It is taken from the Council s adopted Rules of Procedure and is used for selection of the Mayor and Deputy Mayor every two years. Mayor Pearman has directed City staff to prepare this process for use in filling the vacancy created and at the Mayor s request, staff has provided additional details (in italics) regarding the use of this process for the vacancy. The details are not new or additional process steps they do not alter the adopted process in any Page 1

2 way. They are explanatory narratives about the Council s adopted process, particularly when there are multiple nominations for a position. Mayor and Deputy Mayor Elections (1) Any Councilmember may nominate a candidate; no second is needed. Up to six applicants could be placed into nomination. (2) Nominations are closed by a motion, second and 2/3 vote of Council. Candidates not receiving a nomination are removed from further consideration unless and until the Council re-opens nominations at a later time. (3) If only one (1) nomination is made, it is appropriate to make a motion and obtain a second to instruct the City Clerk to cast a unanimous ballot for that nomination. Approval is by majority vote of Councilmembers present. Presumably, there will be six Councilmembers present so a vacancy can only be filled with at least four votes. (4) If more than one (1) nomination is made, an open election is conducted by roll call vote. The Mayor will first ask the Councilmember making a nomination to speak to his nomination, giving reasons for making the nomination. After all nominators have spoken about their nominee, the Mayor will ask if any Councilmembers would like to speak about any of the other nominees. Once all Councilmembers have completed speaking about the nominees, a roll call vote will be taken. Like the process for electing the Deputy Mayor, the Mayor will preside over the voting process with assistance from the City Clerk. (5) To be elected, the nominee needs a majority vote of the Council. As mentioned above, it is assumed all six Councilmembers will be voting; therefore, it will take at least four votes to seat a new councilmember. Nominees not receiving votes are removed from further consideration. If more than one nominee receives less than four votes (e.g. two nominees receive three votes or three nominees receive two votes) another vote will be conducted from among the remaining nominees. Prior to the second round of voting, the Mayor, once again, may ask Councilmembers to speak to the reasons for voting for particular nominees. This process continues until one nominee receives at least four votes or until the Council determines it has reached a deadlock. Deadlocks can be addressed by: Taking a recess for off-line discussions between Councilmembers (no quorums allowed), then re-vote; Adjourn to a later date to complete the voting process; Re-open nominations for new nominees or for re-consideration of previous nominees. After 90 days of impasse, ask the King County Council to make the Councilmember selection per RCW (4). (6) Elections will continue until a Mayor and Deputy Mayor are elected by a majority vote of the Council. The process will be used to select and fill the council vacancy unless a 90-day long impasse occurs requiring the King County Council to make the appointment per RCW (4). Page 2

3 (7) The City Clerk shall declare the nominee receiving the majority vote as the new Mayor. The new Mayor shall declare the nominee receiving the majority vote as the new Deputy Mayor. The Clerk shall swear the individuals into office. The Mayor will preside over the selection process for the Council vacancy. The Clerk will swear the new Councilmember into office at the next regular Council meeting after the selection is made (currently scheduled for February 7, 2011). The selected candidate will be invited to attend, as a full participant, the City Council s 2011 annual Planning Session at the Community Center. The Planning Session occurs on the evening of January 21st, all day January 22nd and the morning of January 23rd. RECOMMENDATION City Clerk MOVE TO: Fill Council Vacancy as outlined in AB 3383 by roll call vote. Page 3

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5 BUSINESS OF THE CITY COUNCIL CITY OF MERCER ISLAND, WA AB 4597 January 13, 2011 Special Business CITY COUNCIL VACANCY - INTERVIEWS I Proposed Council ActIOn I Conduct interviews DEPARTMENT OF COUNCil LIAISON EXHIBITS City Manager (Ali Spietz) nla 1. Advertisements on City's website, in MI Weekly and MI Reporter 2. Leller to candidates from City Clerk acknowledging receipt 3. Application packets from each candidates APPROVED BY CITY MANAGER AMOUNT OF EXPENDITURE $ nla AMOUNT BUDGETED $ nla APPROPRIATION REQUIRED $ nla SUMMARY BACKGROUND Mr. Steve Litzow resigned from the Mercer Island City Council on December 31, 2010 as he was elected as State Senator for the 41 " Legislative District in the November 2010 General Election. Pursuant to RCW , the Council shall appoint a qualified person to fill the vacant position within ninety (90) days. Though Washington State law does not provide for a specific procedure for selecting someone to fill the vacancy, Council followed the current procedures when two previous vacancies occurred (1996 and 1999). Through the City's website, the MI Weekly and the Mercer Island Reporter, residents were encouraged to apply for the vacancy by submitting a leller of interest, a resume and answers to supplemental questions. Seventeen (17) applications were received by the deadline of December 30,2010 at 5:00 pm. LIST OF CANDIDATES Candidates are listed in alphabetical order by last name: Robert Bersos David Laub Tana Senn Deborah L. Bertlin Steven C. Marshall Aric Weiker Adam Cooper Jane Meyer Brahm David Wells Patricia M. "Patti" Darling Craig A. Pedersen Carrie Wernick Newman Jon Friedman Clark Powell Mary A. Yakmoto Aaron Kornblum Rachel Reynolds Page 1 AB 4600 Exhibit 1 Page 5

6 INTERVIEW QUESTIONS Each candidate is allowed approximately five minutes to address the Council on the following: 1. Why do you want to serve on the City Council? 2. What experiences, talents or skills do you bring to the Council and community that you would like to highlight? 3. Are there any regional issues or forums in which you have a particular interest or expertise? (e.g. transportation, water supply, human services, water quality, fiscal management, solid waste, parks & open space, etc.) 4. Do you want to serve on the City Council because of a particular local issue on which you want to work or are your interests more broadly distributed? The Council may ask additional questions of candidates during the interview. NEXT STEPS At the Council Meeting of January 18, 2011, Council will be asked to nominate and vote from the candidate group for appointment of the vacancy. The nomination procedures will be outlined in that agenda bill. RECOMMENDATION City Clerk MOVE TO: No formal action required (appointment to be made at the January 18 th Council Meeting). Page 2 AB 4600 Exhibit 1 Page 6