The Yakima City Council has received thirteen applications from candidates interested in filling the vacancy on the Council created by Sara Bristol’s resignation from her District 2 seat. The deadline for submitting an application to fill the District 2 position was December 31st at noon. Bristol’s resignation officially took effect at midnight on December 31st.
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, 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.
With the application deadline now passed, a check of the applicants’ eligibility will be performed. Then, the remaining six Council members will review the applications and determine how the remainder of the process will unfold. The Council is scheduled to preliminarily discuss how it will fill the District 2 vacancy during its January 7th business meeting. Any candidate interviews would have to be conducted during an open meeting of the Council, which is required by state law. As of now, the Council has not set a deadline for naming Bristol’s replacement.
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 because she and her family have moved back to her hometown of Grants Pass, Oregon where Bristol and her husband, Chris, have both accepted jobs with the Grants Pass Daily Courier newspaper. Bristol is working for the newspaper as a copy editor. Her husband took over as the Daily Courier’s city editor in late October.
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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