A sharply divided Guadalupe City Council wrangled Tuesday night with the first step toward filling its empty fifth seat, ultimately deciding to ask three former candidates from 2012 if they’re still interested in the job.
The seat was held by Councilman William “Jerry” Tucker, who died Sept. 13 at age 70 after battling health problems in recent months. He was in the middle of a four-year term.
City Attorney David Fleishman said the council has 60 days, or until Nov. 12, to either appoint someone to fill the empty seat or call for a costly special election.
“There’s no provisions in the government code how you set this up,” Fleishman said. “You can do interviews. I’ve seen some cities put an ad in the paper saying there’s a vacancy or soliciting applications for the position. I’ve seen cities that have planning commissions bring up the chair of the planning commission. There are all sorts of ways you can do it.”
The only requirement is that the candidate must be a registered voter in the city.
While the four remaining members agreed upon appointing a replacement, they split over what step to take first.
Councilman John Lizalde, joined by Councilman John Sabedra, favored asking whether the three lowest vote-getters in the 2012 election — retiree Alejandro “Alex” Ahumada, planning commissioner Ken Chamness and media marketing consultant David Radmacher — remain interested in being on the council.
But Mayor Frances Romero and Councilwoman Gina Rubalcaba pushed for taking applications now and encouraging those three men to apply along with others.
“I think that things have changed a lot in the last two years, too, and based on everything that’s happened, maybe there are other people that would consider stepping up,” Romero said. “We certainly need people with strong financial expertise.”
Romero ultimately ended the stalemate.
“I’m willing to compromise if we need to, to keep moving forward at some rate, although I would much prefer that we do the applications starting now,” she said.
Rubalcaba expressed concern about losing weeks in the process if the three men from 2012 say they aren’t interested.
“That’s a waste of time then,” she said, suggesting contacting the trio but also accepting applications. “It’s kind of a safety net, that’s how I see it.”
If none of the men from 2012 is interested in the position, the council directed staff to solicit a resume and statement of interest from interested candidates. If at least one former candidate is interested, the city wouldn’t accept applications yet.
Local resident Shirley Boydstun strongly urged the council to accept applications.
“There’s a lot of new people in town, and I believe that the council would benefit from some new blood and new thinking on things,” she said.
City Administrator Andrew Carter noted that the divided council will need to have three votes to make the appointment and expressed concern about delays and a narrow field of candidates. He noted that only one of the three 2012 candidates may be interested but may not garner enough votes to be appointed.
“You have 60 days. That’s what the government code says. So the question is, is it risky? I don’t know any of these people. I don’t know your views of any of these people. I just know politics,” Carter said, expressing concern the council won’t have time to decide after the Oct. 14 meeting to solicit applications
Fleishman said the council has three meetings remaining before the deadline — two in October and then Nov. 11. However, that meeting falls on Veterans Day, a holiday for city employees.
Complicating — or easing — matters is the fact the council has terms already on the Nov. 4 ballot with three people running for the two four-year seats — former council members Ariston Julian and Virginia Ponce plus City Clerk Joice Earleen Raguz.
Additionally, Lizalde, whose term is up this year, is running for mayor against Rubalcaba.
— Noozhawk North County editor Janene Scully can be reached at jscully@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.