Who of the Six? Elk Grove City Council to Consider Applicants to Fill District 1 Vacancy
December, 2, 2014 | At their special meeting tomorrow night, the Elk Grove City Council will consider six applicants seeking appointm...
https://www.elkgrovenews.net/2014/12/who-of-six-elk-grove-city-council-to.html
December, 2, 2014 |
At their special meeting tomorrow night, the Elk Grove City Council will consider six applicants seeking appointment to fill the current vacancy for the District 1 seat.
That vacancy was created with former Council Member Jim Cooper's election to the California Assembly's Ninth District seat last month. At their most recent meeting on November 12, the city council decided to fill the vacancy by appointment rather than a special election, which reportedly would cost the city hundreds-of-thousands of dollars.
The council will be considering six District 1 residents including Christopher Thomas Clark, Donna Lee Cox, Randy B. Kajioka, Oscar Ramirez, Darren G. Suen and Brian Carl Wiese. Their applications and resumes of qualifications can be viewed here.
The successful applicant will need three of the four currently seated members approval to win the appointment and is expected to be sworn-in at the December 10 meeting. If a successful applicant does not emerge, the matter would be continued to a later date.
Even though the council unanimously decided to pursue an appointment over a special election, there was dissension from Mayor Gary Davis as to when the appointment process should be held. Davis wanted the appointment to be held after his protege Steve Ly was sworn-in on December 10 for the District 4 seat that he won in the November election.
Davis was overruled by a 4-1 vote that decided to conduct a special meeting prior to the December 10 meeting where the election results are expected to be certified. Once the election results are certified by a majority of the council, Ly, and the appointee could be sworn-in.
The four-member majority said this would allow the council to be fully-loaded and avoid the acrimony when Council Member Bob Trigg was appointed to the seat Davis vacated upon his election to the mayoral position. That January, 2013 process saw several deadlocked votes until Council Member Pat Hume suggested Trigg a compromise appointment that Davis ultimately supported.
At the November 12 meeting Davis said that Ly, not Trigg should be part of the appointment process.
"A special meeting for something this important I think is not a good idea," Davis said. "It doesn't smell right."
Leading the defense of Trigg's participation in the process was Cooper, who coincidentally did not vote for Trigg's appointment. Cooper noted that Trigg had served the council honorably and that he should be included in the process.
"Mr. Trigg has been here two years, and he has done a good job," Cooper said. "He will make an informed decision."
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I haven't seen a "fix" like this since the Mickey Rourke-Elliot Seymour fight last weekend!
I have to agree with Mr. Buffet. Aside from Mr. Suen, it doesn't seem like any of the other candidates have been involved in anything associated with the city like the planning commissions or other parts of the city apparatus.
Additionally, I wonder why, or maybe who, did Mr. Davis and Mr. Ly want appointed to the city council. I doubt it is any of the 5 applicants other than Mr. Suen. I am not sure what his motivations were other than to have Mr. Ly included in the selection. Of course if Mr. Ly were to be in on the selection, I suspect we would have more deadlocked votes like we did leading to the appointment of Mr. Trigg.
I've attended many council meetings and have watched nearly all of them over the last 3-4 years. I'm not familiar with any of these candidates nor have I seen them involved in city matters. In reading their bio's it looks like Suen and Wiese are a developers dream. Not sure about the others. They all seem to have done well professionally but will that translate to them making decisions with the best interest of the city in mind?
I do have to say we have seen more of their resumes than we ever saw of the the current city council. Whoever is selected will hit the ground running; what will come before them the 10th? To vote on general plan amendments, more homes to be built......
Our city has wasted so much money I am for a special election...at least as a residents we will have something to show for it; our elected representative. So much of the monies wasted by our elected officials have produced nothing more than binders of studies..... money on an election would produce more than a binder and at least would have someone interested in serving our community working to do so. Campaigning is no easy task and indeed suggests someone may have the best interest of resident's needs.
Oh, the boys will try and put on a good act for the cameras and the media, as if all six applicants have an equal and unprejudiced chance. They will emphatically state they came to meeting with open minds; denouncing any backroom deals. How dare anyone even think the council would take part in such antics!
The boys will profess it was a tough decision, so much so they agonized over the right choice because all the candidates are exceedingly qualified and then. . .wait for it. . . they will appoint Darren Suen!
Blah, blah, blah, the fix it is!!
Very good Dog and Pony...of course the fix is in. Ly and Suen were high-fiving each other at the last council meeting until someone texted him to move. Not even going to waste my time attending the meeting.
Looks like Dog and Pony Show nailed it. Suen in a landslide 4-0 vote. Based on his comments tonight at the city council meeting the SOI will be back on the table ASAP.
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