CITY COUNCIL STAFF REPORT
Meeting Date: February 16, 2023
TO: THE HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCILMEMBERS
SUBJECT: INTERVIEW APPLICANTS AND ADOPT RESOLUTION NO. __-23 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 selected four applicants at the February 6 meeting to interview at a special meeting on February 16, 2023, and approved the interview questions and format. The City Council will interview the four applicants and may adopt the proposed resolution to appoint one applicant 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 would be determined.
The City Council selected four applicants at the February 6 meeting to interview at a special meeting on February 16, 2023 and approved the interview questions and format.
Analysis
During the two-week application period (January 13, 2023 to January 27, 2023), the City received applications 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.
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 process for the February 6, 2023 meeting at which the City Council selected the following four applicants (listed in the RAD order and on the attached tally sheet displayed on-screen for the public at the meeting) to interview at a special meeting on February 16, 2023:
Allen Vinson
Eslam Najjar
Chris Tipton
Zhanna Thompson
The City Council finalized the following interview process and the interview questions to be asked (attached) at the February 16 interviews:
1. Public comment on the item will be opened.
2. The interview pool will be interviewed in the RAD order above, one applicant at a time. (Each applicant will be fully interviewed before the Council proceeds to the next applicant.)
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 (in the usual roll-call order) will ask each applicant one to two questions; the same Councilmember will ask the same question(s) of each applicant.
6. Follow-up questions based on applicant answers may be asked by the Councilmembers.
7. Applicants may provide a one-minute closing statement.
8. Each Councilmember will verbally name two applicants they want to consider for appointment (not in any ranked order).
9. The City Clerk will display a tally sheet of the applicants to be considered on-screen.
10. An applicant must be named by a minimum of three Councilmembers on the tally sheet to be considered for appointment.
11. Councilmembers may ask applicants named by a total of three Councilmembers 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.
Staff invited the four selected applicants to the interview meeting as directed by the Council and publicly noticed the meeting in accordance with the Brown Act. Applications for the four selected applicants are attached.
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
Interview the four applicants and adopt the resolution appointing one applicant 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):
Proposed Resolution
City Councilmember Applications
Secretary of State Randomized Alphabet Drawing
City Council Applicant Pool Tally Sheet
Questions for City Council Vacancy Interviews
Correspondence from the Public
Prepared by: Danielle K. Navarro, Principal Management Analyst/City Clerk Approved by: June Catalano, City Manager