Snoqualmie panel reviews timeline to fill council vacancy; 90‑day appointment clock noted

The Snoqualmie Finance & Administration Committee reviewed a proposed timeline on March 3 for filling a council vacancy after Councilmember Christiansen’s imminent departure and discussed how quickly the city wants to complete the appointment process.

Mayor (S3) explained the timing and legal constraint: “Under state law, the city has 90 days to appoint a replacement, and the process for doing that is laid out in state law,” and noted the 90‑day clock starts March 17 because the councilmember’s last day in office will be March 16. Committee members discussed shortening or lengthening the schedule depending on how many applicants the city receives and on other council priorities, such as a retreat.

Key dates and process discussed Administration walked the committee through the sample timeline: adjusting a few dates, posting the vacancy (proposed March 30), leaving about two weeks for applications (target April 13), a period for administrative review and eligibility checks, candidate interviews beginning at the April 27 meeting and a potential selection by May 11. Committee members noted the schedule is flexible and that the council can compress or extend parts of it, but the 90‑day statutory deadline is the only fixed limit.

Next steps The committee agreed to bring a refined timeline back to the next F&A meeting for further questions, to finalize application questions and to decide how many council meetings to allow for interviews. Members discussed using executive session for candidate discussions and the potential to invite shortlisted candidates to the council retreat as part of the vetting process. No formal appointment was made at the committee meeting.

The discussion emphasized administrative support needs for processing applications and the council’s responsibility to narrow candidates if the field is large. The committee did not adopt a final schedule and will revisit the timeline at its next meeting.