CITY COUNCIL STAFF REPORT
Meeting Date: February 06, 2023
TO: THE HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCILMEMBERS
SUBJECT: DETERMINE THE INTERVIEW POOL, QUESTIONS, FORMAT, AND
DATE TO FILL THE CITY COUNCIL VACANCY
SYNOPSIS
Government Code § 36512(b) provides that after the resignation of an elected City Councilmember, the City Council must, within 60 days from the commencement of the vacancy, either appoint a successor or call a special election to fill the vacancy until the certification of the next General (Municipal) Election. The appointment must be made prior to March 1, 2023. The City Council voted to proceed with an appointment process on December 5, 2022 and determined the application process on January 9, 2023 with direction to staff on initiating the recruitment with a deadline of January 27, 2023. On January 30, 2023, the City Council determined the interview and appointment process, and appointed a subcommittee to return on February 6, 2023 with interview questions. The City Council may now determine the interview pool, questions, format, and date to fill the City Council vacancy.
DISCUSSION
Background
Government Code § 36512(b) provides the process for filling an elected Councilmember’s seat if vacated prior to the end of their term. The City Council voted on December 5, 2022 to proceed with an appointment process to fill the City Councilmember vacancy resulting from Councilmember Carlson’s election as Contra Costa County Supervisor for District IV. On January 9, 2023, the City Council provided direction to staff to finalize the application, with a submittal deadline of 12:00 p.m. on January 27, 2023; conduct a recruitment for qualified candidates to fill the vacancy; and return to the City Council following the close of the application period for further discussion.
Staff publicly noticed the vacancy (including the application process) via the following outlets:
City website;
Social media accounts;
Electronic billboard at City Hall;
Agenda posting board outside of City Hall; the Police Department; and the Senior Center Press release (also sent to City commissioners);
January 20, 2023 Biweekly Update; and
East Bay Times on January 20, 2023, and January 25, 2023.
On January 30, 2023, the City Council determined the interview and appointment process, appointed a subcommittee (“Interview Subcommittee”) to return to the full Council with draft interview questions, and set the regular City Council meeting of February 6, 2023 as the meeting at which the interview pool, questions, and date will be determined.
Analysis
During the two-week application period (January 13, 2023 to January 27, 2023), the City received applications (attached) from eleven qualified candidates listed below in the Randomized Alphabet Drawing (“RAD”) order the California Secretary of State’s Office utilized for the November 8, 2022 General (Municipal) Election (attached).
Veronica Dise-Hodge
Husein Attarwala
Allen Vinson
Andrei Obolenskiy
Eslam Najjar
Chris Tipton
Zhanna Thompson
Stephen Zalewski
David Field
Darien Key
Oliver Greenwood
On January 30, 2023, the City Council established the following process for the February 6, 2023 meeting:
1. Open public comment on the item.
2. Select the interview pool.
a. Each Councilmember will verbally name five applicants they want to interview (not in any ranked order).
b. The City Clerk will display a tally sheet of the applicants on-screen. c. An applicant must be named by a minimum of two Councilmembers to be considered for the interview pool.
d. The five applicants with the greatest total will be invited to interview. (There may be more or less than five applicants due to the two-Councilmember minimum requirement.)
3. The Interview Subcommittee will report draft questions to be considered and the City Council will determine the questions to be asked.
4. The date of the meeting at which interviews will be held will be set and staff will be directed to invite the interview pool and notice the meeting in accordance with the Brown Act.
The Council determined the following process to be used for the interviews
1. Public comment on the item will be opened.
2. The interview pool will be interviewed in the RAD order.
3. The Clerk Recorder will time all statements and responses using the public comment timer.
4. Each applicant may provide a two-minute opening statement.
5. Councilmembers will ask each applicant two questions.
6. Follow-up questions based on applicant answers may be asked by the Councilmembers.
7. Each Councilmember will verbally name three applicants they want to consider for appointment (not in any ranked order).
8. The City Clerk will display a tally sheet of the applicants on-screen.
9. An applicant must be named by a minimum of three Councilmembers on the tally sheet to be considered for appointment.
10. The three applicants with the greatest total will be considered for appointment. (There may be less than three applicants for appointment consideration due to the threeCouncilmember minimum requirement.)
11. Councilmembers may ask one to two more questions.
12. The Mayor will entertain a motion/second to adopt the resolution appointing one applicant.
13. The City Council will vote on the motion (and continue motion/second/vote) until an applicant is appointed.
14. The Oath of Office will be administered to the appointee, and the new Councilmember will be seated.
For step 5 above, the Council may wish to determine whether to interview one applicant at a time (e.g. applicant A is interviewed before moving to applicant B) or as a group (e.g. each applicant answers question one, then each applicant answers question two, etc.).
FISCAL IMPACT
The cost to implement the current step in the process includes staff time.
PUBLIC CONTACT
Public contact was made through posting of the City Council agenda on the City’s official notice bulletin board, at the Pleasant Hill Senior Center and at the Pleasant Hill Police Department. The agenda and staff report are posted on the City’s web page.
RECOMMENDED CITY COUNCIL ACTION
Determine the interview pool, questions, format, and date to fill the City Council vacancy.
ALTERNATIVES TO RECOMMENDED ACTION
City Councilmembers are essential officers of municipal government (Government Code §36501) and a new one must be selected by law. The Council has a mandatory duty to choose to either appoint a new councilmember or call a special election for that purpose by March 1, 2023 (Government Code § 36512(b)). No alternatives to this duty are available.
ATTACHMENT(S):
City Councilmember Applications
Secretary of State Randomized Alphabet Drawing
Correspondence
Prepared by: Danielle K. Navarro, Principal Management Analyst/City Clerk Approved by: June Catalano, City Manager