Seattle Council outlines D5 vacancy process and upcoming candidate forum details

The Seattle City Council briefing meeting on July 14, 2025, commenced at 2:02 PM with six council members present, while Council Member Saka was excused. The minutes from the previous meeting on July 7 were adopted without objection.

Council President Nelson provided an update on the process to fill the District 5 vacancy, noting that 22 applications had been received and shared with the council and the public. The timeline for this process is 20 days, with an executive session scheduled for the following day to discuss the vacancy. A special council meeting is set for Thursday, July 17, at 9:30 AM to identify finalists. Two community groups applied to host a candidate forum, with Unified Outreach selected to ensure accessibility. The forum will take place on July 21 at North Seattle Community College and will be broadcasted online.

The regular city council meeting on July 22 will start an hour earlier at 1 PM to allow time for public interviews of the finalists. A vote to appoint a new council member is planned for July 28, with stipulations that the council must continue to meet daily until a candidate is selected if no appointment is made on that date.

Following the President's report, the meeting transitioned to the roll call rotation, beginning with Council Member Kettle. Council Member Rink reported that there would be no public safety committee meeting that week, as the focus would shift to transportation. He highlighted two bills related to graffiti abatement and chronic nuisance properties that would be presented to the full council in the upcoming meeting. Amendments to both bills were noted, including a technical fix for the chronic nuisance property bill and updates to the graffiti bill to ensure recent actions are documented.

The meeting concluded with an emphasis on the upcoming discussions and decisions regarding public safety and the vacancy process, setting the stage for significant developments in the coming weeks.