13 Apply for City Council Vacancy

The City Council will meet at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 20, in order to select a candidate to fill the City Council vacancy left by the resignation of Pete Aguilar from the council last month. Thirteen candidates have applied for the open seat.

Prior to the 5 p.m. meeting, the City Council will hold a special meeting beginning at 4 p.m. in order to address its regular agenda. There will be no closed session Tuesday.

At its regular 5 p.m. meeting, the council will hear in alphabetical order from each of the 13 candidates who applied to fill the vacant council seat. Following an explanation of the procedure and a public comment period, each candidate will be given three minutes to make an initial presentation to the council.

Following each three-minute presentation, the council will have up to 10 minutes to ask questions of the candidate. The candidates will then have an additional two minutes to provide closing comments to the council.

Once all 13 candidates have made their presentations, the council members will each select his or her top four candidates to move forward to a second round of nominations. Results will be tallied and visible for the public on a spread sheet. Candidates receiving at least one nomination will move forward to Round 2. Those receiving no nominations will be eliminated from the selection process and may not be considered at a later point.

In Round 2, each council member will identify his or her top two candidates for appointment. Nominations will be tallied in public view. To move forward to Round 3, candidates must receive at least two nominations from members of the council.

In Round 3, each council member will identify his or her top candidate. The candidate who receives three nominations will be selected for appointment to the City Council. Following a short recess, the successful candidate will be sworn in by the City Clerk.

The candidates for appointment to the City Council are:

• Judith Ashton
• Robert Dawes
• Jane Dreher
• Luis Estrada
• Steven Frasher
• John James
• Mike Layne
• Ensen Mason
• Michael Reiter
• Mike Saifie
• Colton Smith
• Terry Vines
• Renea Wickman

A copy of each candidate’s application, including information about the candidate and answers to a questionnaire, will be posted to the City’s website by the end of business Thursday, Jan. 15.

Candidate applications were filed with the City Clerk’s Office between Dec. 17, 2014, and Jan. 12, 2015. Applicants must be 18 years of age and a registered voter of the City of Redlands and otherwise qualified to vote for this office at the time of appointment. The term of the council seat will run from the date of appointment through Dec. 6, 2016.

On Thursday, Dec. 11, 2014, the City Council voted to fill the vacancy on the council left by Aguilar’s resignation through appointment.

Aguilar, who was elected Nov. 4 to represent the 31st Congressional District, tendered his resignation from the City Council on Monday, Dec. 8, effective Dec. 15. He served on the City Council since his appointment in 2006 to fill a vacancy. He was elected twice to the Council and in 2010 and 2012 was selected as Mayor by his Council colleagues.

Under the Government Code, the City Council has 60 days from the date of Aguilar’s resignation to make an appointment to serve the remainder of his term or call a special election. The San Bernardino County Registrar of Voters estimates the cost to the City for a mail-ballot special election at approximately $88,000.

--Information and image from City of Redlands