The Pleasant Hill City Council is set to continue its process to appoint an applicant to its vacant city council seat after Ken Carlson was elected to the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors.
A total of 11 applicants applied and during the February 6 meeting, the council selected four applicants to interview at the February 16 meeting – they also approved an interview question format.
The candidates include:
- Eslam Najjar
- Chris Tipton
- Zhanna Thompson
- Allen Vinson
According to Government Code, the City of Pleasant Hill 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.
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
Process / Timeline:
The City Council voted to proceed with an appointment process on December 5, 2022 and determined the application process on January 9, 2023 with direction to staff on initiating the recruitment with a deadline of January 27, 2023
On January 30, 2023, the City Council determined the interview and appointment process, and appointed a subcommittee to return on February 6, 2023 with interview questions.
The City Council selected four applicants at the February 6 meeting to interview at a special meeting on February 16, 2023 and approved the interview questions and format.
The City Council finalized the following interview process and the interview questions to be
asked (attached) at the February 16 interviews
- Public comment on the item will be opened.
- The interview pool will be interviewed in the RAD order above, one applicant at a time.
(Each applicant will be fully interviewed before the Council proceeds to the next
applicant.) - The Clerk Recorder will time all statements and responses using the public comment
timer. - Each applicant may provide a two-minute opening statement.
- Councilmembers (in the usual roll-call order) will ask each applicant one to two
questions; the same Councilmember will ask the same question(s) of each applicant. - Follow-up questions based on applicant answers may be asked by the Councilmembers.
- Applicants may provide a one-minute closing statement.
- Each Councilmember will verbally name two applicants they want to consider for
appointment (not in any ranked order). - The City Clerk will display a tally sheet of the applicants to be considered on-screen.
- An applicant must be named by a minimum of three Councilmembers on the tally sheet to be considered for appointment.
- Councilmembers may ask applicants named by a total of three Councilmembers one to two more questions.
- The Mayor will entertain a motion/second to adopt the resolution appointing one
applicant. - The City Council will vote on the motion (and continue motion/second/vote) until an applicant is appointed.
- The Oath of Office will be administered to the appointee, and the new Councilmember will be seated
CITY OF PLEASANT HILL: CITY COUNCIL MEETING AGENDA
February 16, 2023
REGULAR MEETING – 7:00 PM
City Hall, 100 Gregory Lane, Pleasant Hill, CA 94523
or remotely via Zoom.
AGENDA: Click Here
Watch on YouTube at: www.pleasanthillca.org/councilmeeting
Meeting link: www.zoom.us
Meeting ID: 840 3431 1659
Passcode: 784007
