During an open public session on Thursday, January 16th, the Yakima City Council will hear presentations from all thirteen applicants interested in filling the vacancy on the Council created by Sara Bristol’s resignation from the District 2 seat. Following the January 16th presentations, the Council is expected to narrow the field to a pool of finalists. The next day, Friday, January 17th, the finalists will go through individual interviews with the Council, which will also take place during an open public session. The Council is expected to decide who will fill the District 2 seat in time for the appointee to be sworn in at the Council’s January 21st regular business meeting.
The January 16th applicant presentations will begin at 2:00 pm in the Council Chambers at YakimaCity Hall. Each applicant will be given three minutes to talk to the Council about their qualifications and desire to fill the District 2 seat.
The January 17th finalists’ pool interviews will begin at 9:30 am and will also take place in the Council Chambers. The length of the interviews will be based on the size of the finalists’ pool.
Both the January 16th applicants’ presentations and the January 17th finalists’ pool interviews will be telecast live on Y-PAC, Charter Cable channel 22.
Applications to fill the vacancy have been submitted by (in alphabetical order) Patricia Byers, Thomas Dittmar, Maria Giedra, Michael Hayes, Mark Johnson, Lyle Kang, Nicholas Kline, Alphonso Lee, Michael Liddicoat, Richard Marcley, James McLean, Dan Polage, and Tony Sloan.
To be eligible, applicants have to be registered to vote and have to live within the boundaries of Yakima City Council District 2. The borders of District 2 are, generally, Tieton Drive to the North, Ahtanum Road to the south, 40th Avenue to the west, and 1st Avenue to the east (although portions of the eastern boundary extend further east). A map of District 2 can be found on the City’s website at http://bit.ly/1aKy7kE.
Bristol was elected to the Yakima City Council in November 2011 after having received more than 70% of the vote and was sworn into office in January 2012. She resigned from her District 2 seat on December 31st because she and her family have moved back to her hometown of Grants Pass, Oregon where Bristol and her husband, Chris, now work for the Grants Pass Daily Courier newspaper. Bristol is a copy editor for the newspaper. Her husband took over as the Daily Courier’s city editor in late October of last year.
The District 2 seat is one of four district-specific positions on the Council. Maureen Adkison holds the District 1 seat, Rick Ensey is the District 3 representative, and Kathy Coffey represents District 4. The other three seats on the Council are at-large positions, which are currently held by Micah Cawley, Dave Ettl, and Bill Lover.
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