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Gig Harbor council to recall December finalists to fill vacant seat; candidates to speak at next meeting
Summary
City council instructed staff to bring the three finalists from December back for three-minute statements and to hold nominations and a vote at the next regular meeting to fill the seat left vacant by Councilmember Likens’ resignation.
Gig Harbor City Council members directed staff to bring back the three finalists from last month’s appointment process and place the vacancy on the next regular council meeting agenda for nomination and vote.
City Clerk Zucker told the council that “we just went through this process in December,” and said staff had confirmed the three finalists were still interested. The clerk outlined two options: pick a candidate from the recent pool or restart recruitment and interviews.
The council discussed the two options, repeatedly returning to the December finalists. Councilmember Henderson said she favored reopening the recent pool because “it’s fresh in our minds,” and urged a quick resolution. Councilmember Wood urged reopening recruitment to the public, citing the holidays as a reason some applicants might have missed the prior round.
Several council members raised a transparency concern about an executive-session discussion held after the December interviews. One councilmember said they could not disclose details but warned the executive session had produced information that might effectively remove one finalist from consideration. That concern led at least one member to favor starting a new recruitment if members felt a finalist had been effectively ruled out by the earlier executive session.
Despite the concern, members reached practical agreement: staff will invite the three December finalists back to the next meeting, allow each up to three minutes to speak, and then the council will nominate from that pool and vote. Councilmembers also preserved the council’s ability to return to executive session at the appointing meeting to discuss qualifications before voting.
The council did not take a formal vote on an appointment at the study session; the action agreed to was procedural direction to staff to (a) contact the three finalists to confirm interest and availability and (b) schedule the finalists for the next regular meeting so council can nominate and vote.
The vacancy follows Councilmember Likens’ resignation, announced at the start of the study session. The council emphasized that final appointment action will occur at the regular meeting rather than in the study session.
