Sumner Will Accept Applications for Temporary Council Seat

The Sumner City Council decided March 28 to move forward with the selection process of an interim councilmember to . The appointed person will serve on the council until this November's election.

A call for candidates will be likely be announced sometime today, said City Administrator Diane Supler. Council candidates must be eligible to vote and be a resident of Sumner to apply.

The council will interview the candidates and vote on the person they think should represent the city until the November elections. Under the law, a replacement must be selected by the council within 90 days of the seat vacancy. The laws don’t specify a formal selection process that the council is required to follow.

“This process could be as abbreviated or involved as this council would like,” said Supler.

The council received a packet to look over that featured a model for the open application process when Steve Litzow left the council last December.

In the Mercer Island application process, applicants were required to submit a resume and cover letter and answer questions about what they felt were important regional and local issues they’d like to address in their service. Mercer Island councilmembers receive a $200 monthly stipend; Sumner council members receive $750.

“It’s a fair enough process if we treat it like a job interview,” said Councilmember Cindi Hochstatter.

Councilmember Randy Hynek disagreed.  

“We are replacing someone who was publicly elected, so it’s only right he should be replaced with someone else who was publicly elected,” said Hynek. He argued that the city should move up its formal council election date from November and start the election season a few months early, rather than participate in “backroom dealing” and appoint someone without public involvement.

Four council seats are up for re-election this fall, including the seat previously held by Richardson.

Supler stated that a special election had the potential to cost a city more than $50,000 but wasn’t sure on exact numbers. Hynek requested a more formal breakdown of what the costs could be; councilmember LeRoy Goff similarly requested the costs of extra staff time to uproot a November election.

“It’s up to the council to appoint a person, I don’t want to take too much staff time,” said Goff. He came to the study session with a candidate already in mind, but the person was not discussed.

Washington law states that a councilmember must be appointed by the city council, not through a public election. So, even if someone was publicly elected to the position, they would still have to be voted in by the city council first.

City Attorney Brett Vinson advised that councilmembers not discuss candidates with one another outside formal meetings.

“I do think we should advertise the position for a couple weeks and collect applications. I understand the election is close, but I don’t think we should spend money to move it up,” said councilmember Curt Brown. “The real election is in November anyway, to me this is a temporary appointment and I’d like to see applications.”

We’ll post the official application here on Patch when we receive it. Supler said to expect it some time this afternoon.