Elk Grove City Council Breaks Deadlock on Appointment, Appoints Dark Horse

Following an often contentious meeting between its members, the Elk Grove City Council appointed a dark horse candidate to fill the Dis...


Following an often contentious meeting between its members, the Elk Grove City Council appointed a dark horse candidate to fill the District 4 vacancy.

By a 3-1 vote the council appointed former Elk Grove Unified School District Superintendent Robert Trigg. The retired educator's name was placed into nomination by Council Member Pat Hume as an alternate after five of the six original candidates placed into nomination during this and the previous council meeting all ended in a 2-2 vote.

Although the council reached its oft-stated goal of not holding a special election to fill the vacancy when Gary Davis vacated that seat upon his election as mayor, the appointment was not easily reached. Davis and Jim Cooper squarely advocated the appointment of Elk Grove Planning Commissioner Nancy Chaires while Hume and Detrick supported four of the other five candidates.

After the council deadlocked on Detrick's nomination of Ed Busetill, Hume suggested Trigg as an alternative. Trigg's name was tossed into the discussion last week by Elk Grove Citizen's Roy Herburger.

Before reaching an agreement on Trigg, Cooper and Davis plead for the appointment of Chaires citing her strong qualifications. Davis also said he supported the planning commissioner because he felt she could be a strong coalition builder.

During their deliberations, Cooper and Hume engaged in a continuous point counter-point exchange over the appointment process. Hume acknowledged Chaires qualification but added she had become tainted by a process that gave the appearance that her appointment was pre-ordained by political partisans.

"That's B.S.," Cooper said in response.

For his part Davis said that he spoke with Trigg who told him he is not seeking the office but would served if called upon. Trigg was not present at the meeting.

"He doesn't want to do it, but will," Davis said.

If he accepts the appointment Trigg is expected to be appointed at the next city council meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 13.

After casting the only dissenting vote on the appointment, Cooper voiced displeasure on how Trigg's appointment was made without any public input.

"The public was excluded and that is poor public policy," he said. "That is not good government."

After the council had acted Chaires was asked what she though of the vote and the proceedings.

"I don't know what I think yet," she said.





     

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19 comments

William Flores said...

Is this a joke? People apply for a position with the interest to serve, many of whom have shown dedication through service to the City and/or running for office, and the Council discredits public input on top of already having several qualified applicants? Let's get it together people and work together...by the way, there is no room for ideological differences on City Council voting strictly Democrat or Republican...that is exactly what is happening. Save that for higher office and do what is best for your constituents in this nonpartisan office.

Wizard of Oz said...

It all started when Dickinson let the cat of the bag at Gary Davis's campaign office grand opening--introducing Chaires as our next Councilmember. Sure glad the press was there to report this gaffe.

The Democratic Machine shoulda followed the strategy of the top football teams--a no huddle offense to keep the defense off-guard!! Ha ha.

Score one for democcracy--at least this is as close as it will get in Elk Grove!

Anonymous said...

What message are you giving to our community when you state Mr. Davis that Trigg really doesn't want to do this but he will when you have 5 eager candidates sitting in front of you who have evidently completely wasted their time trying to properly apply for this seat. You made a copout decision based on your inability to compromise and I'm really disappointed. The community had no influence or say in any of this and I really felt bad for the candidates that had to sit through all this crap for two weeks only to be blindsided so you could have an easy way out. It's really a shame!!! I will not vote for you EVER in the future and if this is to ever happen again (Cooper's seat) just freakin' appoint a person to begin with if this is how it's gonna go and don't waste the taxpayer's or the eager public service volunteers' time who tried to do things the "right" way!!!!

Anonymous said...

WHAT THE HECK????? Nothing against Trigg but how could you appoint someone who says he doesn't want to do this when you have candidates who went through all your stupid processes for no reason...TOTAL waste of everyone's time! Great job Elk Grove City Council...once again....you have shown that you are incapable of making good decisions when it matters...I actually agreed with Cooper's statements saying that this was not the right way to handle this!!! I would have loved to have seen how each of you would have reacted to this decision had it been you wasting at least a month of your time trying to be a legit candidate for this position!

Anonymous said...

Margaret Johnson says:
To state that last evening's circus was not a political game being played by all four council members would be a lie. Personal agendas played out just as suspected and in the end a fair and just decision was NOT made. A preordained plan was obviously in play before the meeting even began as was evident by Hume's and Davis's previous conversations with Trigg so why waste everyone's time and go through any discussion at all when ultimately a plan had already been made! I am so disappointed in this council and think that they showed a compete lack of respect for the candidates and for the public.

Anonymous said...

For all you fear mongers, Bob Trigg will bring a positive sense, descresiion and diginity that has been lacking ibn our city council for many years. These are non-partisan positions. Stop making them a political football.
Horray for Bob trigg and congrats to Roy Herberger who again has the best idea yet in suggesting his name for council.

David said...

Wow! Our council never ceases to amaze me. Mr. Trigg, like Ms. Chaires, may prove to be a fine council member, but the process AGAIN was incredibly flawed.

Five, okay four, outstanding candidiates to choose from and our council can't agree on one of them. Instead they vote in a man that DOESN'T WANT TO SERVE!

No public interview, no public vetting, no idea what Mr. Trigg thinks about the many important issues facing our communuity in the next two years.

There needs to be a public meeting set up ASAP where the citizens can meet and speak with Mr. Trigg prior to his being sworn in.

Good grief, where the heck is democracy around here?

Anonymous said...

Why is Roy Herberger MAKING the news instead of reporting the news.

He needs to stay out of city politics and remain objective, so that his rag can report what is happening without bias.

This town is Hooterville!

Anonymous said...

We had a process in place for this selection process...and out of the blue, a new suitor emerges. There was a process in place for a reason...that reason...transparent government! I have NOTHING against Mr. Trigg...but the process has been raped, stabbed and left to die on the roadside. This council thinks they solved a problem last night?? They have only started a new chapter in the disfunctionality of Elk Grove. The PROCESS...remember that when you come before council with an issue...remember you want to be treated using the long established rules of government...you really DO NOT WANT this council to make s#it up as they go along. What a mess. Welcome to the board Mr. Trigg...hope you have hip wadders.

Anonymous said...

If I understand the process correctly, the council had the 1st option to appoint someone from District 4 without applications back in December. The council decided to do a formal application process, help with public outreach and hold two open council meetings. After a deadlock on pretty much all the candidates in this 2nd option, they came up with 3rd option of Mr. Trigg at the 11th hour. This saved from going to the 4th option of a $500,000 special election that would have been required by Law shortly after last nights meeting. The council got it done and they are to be commended for finding a solution. End of Story. Now it is time to move on.

Anonymous said...

to the poster above:
you have got to be naive to think what happened last night was "OK". Yes, the temporary fixed a problem only to start a new one. Do you known anything about Mr. Trigg? What does he think about bringing light rail to EG? Hummmmmm. What does it think about building out 8,000 acres into the marshlands of the Cosumnes River?? Hummmm. How does he stand when it comes to addressing budget issues?? Another HUMMMMMMM. We do not know this person at all. There was no public process. What was established just weeks ago as the "selection process" was mangled to death last night. THIS IS NOT OK WITH ME...AND IT SHOULDN'T BE OK WITH YOU EITHER. Running rough shod over your voting rights without blinking an eye. Ashamed and disappointed.

Connie Conley said...

If the first poster above, William Flores, is our former Asst. Clerk of the city of Elk Grove, we miss you and are very thankful for our service to our community!

And your post is spot on!

Connie Conley said...

Correction re agove, "Your service to our community!"

Anonymous said...

ms. claires got the shaft on this one thanks to davis and dickinson....she deserves the position...but will have to wait..no shame on her as she she should just hold her head up and show dignity in all this....Mr trigg's appointment will ease the mess and hell do great.. a throwback to community leadership.citizens of elk grove deserve better than this, but we can now move on... speak your mind when next election comes around...itl will make council rethink all of this...

Anonymous said...

Wake up folks. The Democratic power mchine is alive and strong in Elk Grove. Yes, the city council is supposed to be non-partisan but Mr. Davis, Mr. Cooper and all of Nancy Chaires supports made it a politcal fight. Nancy and her husband are very poltically active. They allowed the Democratic powerhouse to get behind them along with Roger Dickensen, Darrel Steinberg and the Sacramento Bee (Democratic rag). when are you people going to realize that we are being ridden out of town on a rail by the Democratic Supermajority in California. Just hold on to you pockets and wallets becuase they are goingto have very big holes in them in hte next few years and you will have no one to blame but yourselves.
If the SOI goes though you are going to taxed even more heavily to support the infrastructure that doens't exist there now and then you will really be crying wolf. It takes money toi build and the developers are going to turn to your pockets and wlales for hte money to do so whiile they reap the profit.
Folks wake up and smell the coffee!!!!

William Flores said...

Thanks Connie...I had to make a comment on this one! I hope all is well!

Anonymous said...

To the poster who stated that this was a good solution and to "move on"...We certainly will move on but I will not agree that this was at all a fair way for this seat to be filled. I have nothing against Trigg and am hopeful that he will serve us well, but don't know much about him to judge. I have however attended many council meetings and also the public forum in which I was able to come to my own conclusion about the candidates applying for this seat. My frustration lies in the fact that I was not given the same courtesy to do so with Trigg. I feel blindsided and that we as a community were left out of this all together. There were a few excellent candidates that I feel could have done a great job in this position (Chaires, Owen, or Bustilli) but unfortunately, the council could not agree to allow one of these well qualified people to serve because they could not leave their egos at the door!!!!

Anonymous said...

I would like to sincerely thank all of the six candidates who took time out of their lives to apply to serve our community. You deserve more respect than was given last night and I hope that you all realize that.

Dorthea said...

Amen, to the above post! Thanks for coming forward and for wanting to better your community.

You ALL deserved better than you received from a terribly unprofessional city council.

Please file for a seat in 2014 if able. We need new blood and strong minds in our council.

Thanks again.

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