When Esther Sanchez was elected Mayor of Oceanside on November 3rd, she left the her City Council seat vacant for a new appointee. Since then a record number of potential appointees have applied to fill the position. As of now, 36 people have applied for the role and only one can be appointed. A decision must be made by February 10. If the City Council doesn’t appoint someone by the deadline, there will be a special city-wide election. Whoever is selected will serve for less than a year, but they will have the option to run for the position once their initial term is up.
The City Clerk, Zeb Navarro, will have a 6-hour interview session with the 36 applicants; with each of them being interviewed for 10 minutes. He says he plans on getting some direction from the council on how to best handle the lengthy meeting.
“With 36 applicants at 10 minutes each, this would stretch the meeting to six hours plus time for public comment and council deliberation,” Navarro said. “Council can decide to split this up over two days or cut down the time to five minutes.”
The applicant list has some familiar names, such as former Mayor and Councilman Terry Johnson and former City Clerk Zack Beck, but there are some political newcomers as well. The interviews will be conducted via Zoom to ensure COVID-19 guidelines are followed.
A change that’s taken place in Oceanside since 2018 is the switch from city-wide elections to four districts choosing their own council member. This means that only someone who lives in the district would be eligible for the appointment.
Mayor Sanchez put in her two cents by suggesting that the council choose someone that can represent the diversity of the city. This includes someone that can represent the wealthiest and the poorest parts of Oceanside. 12-year former Councilman Jerry Kern of District 2 also chimed in, advising not to choose anyone who works for public agencies, as they tend to “think like a government bureaucrat”.
There are 3 important dates to look out for. January 27th will be the first date, but if no one is selected by then, the decision will be pushed to February 3rd. If there is still no determination by February 3rd, the council will call a special meeting on February 10th to make a final decision on an appointee or call for a special election.
