After Seattle City Councilmember Sally Clark announced that she was leaving her term early to take a job with the University of Washington, 44 applications spilled in to fill her position for the remainder of the year.
The new person was encouraged to be someone who only plans to fill the term until the end of the year, when the officially elected candidate will take over. It’s a bit of an odd request, for someone to potentially take up to an eight-month leave from his or her job to take over the position, only to vacate it for the elected Position 9 councilmember.
Among the applications the council received were those from former City Councilmembers Jan Drago and Heidi Wills. There are other high-profile candidates, like some running for District 9, along with some unexpected applicants, like an assistant principal, a model and a bus inspector, as noted by The Seattle Times.
The council went over the applications last week and selected eight finalists. They will then have a chance to speak before the council on Friday, April 24, the Times reports. The temporary position will be filled by majority vote near the end of this month.
Rather than filling the position with a possible Position 9 candidate, the council seems set to appoint what Councilmember Tim Burgess has called a “caretaker.”
While electing someone who is running for the council could potentially give that candidate an unfair advantage (or a disadvantage, if the public doesn’t like what they see), electing a temporary councilmember doesn’t seem to have any benefits, either. It seems likely the council will appoint someone who has already held the position or a similar government position and can hit the ground running. Nevertheless, it seems that position will merely be a figurehead with a tie-breaking vote, until the real replacement is elected.
We all know there will be a big shakeup at the end of the year, when the entire City Council will be up for election under the new district-based system, and only time will tell if this temporary councilmember will have any impact. But it seems that everyone’s sights are set on the big election — and the new council — this November, which doesn’t bode well for the interim.