On Monday, January 30, the Pleasant Hill City Council will hold a special meeting to determine its appointment process to fill a council vacancy in which 11 residents applied for the position.
According to Government Code, the city has 60 days from the commencement of the vacancy, to either appoint a successor or call for a special election. The appointment must be done by March 1, 2023.
The City Council voted on December 5, 2022 to proceed with an appointment process to fill the City Councilmember vacancy resulting from Councilmember Ken Carlson’s election as Contra Costa County Supervisor for District IV. On January 9, 2023, the City Council provided direction to staff to finalize the application, with a submittal deadline of 12:00 p.m. on January 27, 2023; conduct a recruitment for qualified candidates to fill the vacancy; and return to the City Council following the close of the application period for further discussion.
During the two-week application period (January 13, 2023 to January 27, 2023), the City received applications from eleven qualified candidates listed below in the Randomized Alphabet Drawing order the California Secretary of State’s Office utilized for the November 8, 2022 General (Municipal) Election.
- Veronica Dise-Hodge
- Husein Attarwala
- Allen Vinson
- Andrei Obolenskiy
- Eslam Najjar
- Chris Tipton
- Zhanna Thompson
- Stephen Zalewski
- David Field
- Darien Key
- Oliver Greenwood
The purpose of the Council meeting is to:
- Review the candidate list.
- Determine the interview and appointment process.
- Determine when the interviews will take place.
Staff said it published the vacancy on its website, through use of social media, electronic billboard at city hall, agenda, press release, and its biweekly update. It also was in a local newspaper for two weeks.
CITY OF PLEASANT HILL: CITY COUNCIL MEETING AGENDA
JANUARY 30, 2023
SPECIAL MEETING – 7:00 PM
Staff Report: http://pleasanthillca.iqm2.com/Citizens/FileOpen.aspx?Type=1&ID=2426&Inline=True
Watch on YouTube at: www.pleasanthillca.org/councilmeeting
To provide comments via teleconference, click on the meeting link and enter the meeting ID and Passcode:
Meeting link: www.zoom.us
Meeting ID: 869 2842 5049
Passcode: 881682
