Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Council Governance topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Council sets adjusted timeline to fill Cortez council seat; suspends rules and schedules application deadline Jan. 21
Summary
Following Councilmember Cortez’s resignation effective midnight, staff outlined the statutory process for filling the vacancy. The council suspended parts of its governance manual and set an application deadline of Jan. 21 at 10 a.m.; a special meeting will consider applicants and select candidates to interview at the Feb. 3 regular meeting.
The Battle Ground City Council moved to begin the process of filling the council vacancy created by Councilmember Adriana Cortez’s resignation (effective midnight on Jan. 7) and adjusted the city’s advertised timeline to give applicants two full weeks to apply.
City Manager and the clerk briefed the council on the statutory framework. Under state law the council has 90 days to fill the seat; if the city does not select a replacement within that time the county council must fill the vacancy. Eligibility criteria were reviewed: applicants must be registered voters, at least 18 years old and residents of the City of Battle Ground. The city clerk noted that the governance manual recommends the clerk publish the vacancy notice for 3 weeks and then hold a Monday special meeting following the deadline to consider applications, but the manual can be suspended at council discretion.
Council discussed competing timeline options. To move more quickly, council voted to suspend the related procedural rules and adopt a modified timeline: the city will publish the vacancy notice the week of Jan. 8, accept applications through 10 a.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 21, and hold a special meeting at 5 p.m. on Jan. 21 to consider the applications and select which applicants will be interviewed at the Feb. 3 regular meeting. The clerk will publish the vacancy notice and post updated deadline language on the city website and social channels.
Councilmember Bowman moved to suspend the governance‑manual rules for this vacancy process and Councilmember Overholzer seconded. That motion passed unanimously. Council then voted unanimously to adopt the modified timeline and Jan. 21 10 a.m. deadline. Staff said the special meeting would immediately convene into an executive session for council to consider qualifications and then publicly select candidates to interview at the following regular meeting.
What’s next: staff will publish the official vacancy notice and application form, accept applications through Jan. 21 at 10 a.m., and notify selected applicants to appear at the Feb. 3 meeting for formal interviews; the council retained discretion to appoint at the Feb. 3 meeting or later.
