Seat vacated by resignation of Richard Hernandez to remain open until March election
The City Council voted 3-1 Tuesday, Sept. 3, to call a special election to fill the seat vacated by the recent resignation of Richard Hernandez.
Mayor Anni Marshall cast the dissenting vote. In a phone interview, she told the Islander that a couple of people came to the podium this week who said the council shouldn’t leave the seat open for months. “I was hearing that,” she said.
The seat will remain open until the special election, which will be held at the same time as the regular March 2020 election. According to City Attorney Scott Campbell, the council had two choices: appoint someone to fill the vacant seat or call the special election.
Campbell apparently didn’t anticipate a significant cost to hold a special election because the council will already have three seats up for election in March.
According to City Manager Denise Radde, the county still has not provided Avalon with an estimated cost for holding a special election. She budgeted $50,000 for a special election, but she said she had no way to estimate the cost.
One Avalon resident, a woman, came to the podium to say that the council appointed new member Steve Hoefs six weeks ago to fill the seat vacated by the May death of Pam Albers. The woman asked what was the difference between now and six weeks ago.
Leslie Warner said she was concerned that the city would only have four council members for the next six months. “I don’t think you’re representing the city fully,” he said.
Hernandez said that as he recalled, Council Member Cinde MacGugan-Cassidy made a motion to appoint the next highest vote getter in the previous election. He pointed out that the council had someone there who had been on the council previously. Hernandez didn’t mention him by name, but it was Joe Sampson who had received the next highest number of votes after Hoefs in the last Avalon city election.
Marshall gestured toward an empty seat next to her. “We have a seat right here,” she said.
Michael Ponce, a past council member, proposed appointing someone who would not run for council in the next election.
City Attorney Campbell said that the council could ask someone to make that promise, but the council couldn’t hold them to it, “legally speaking.”
Cassidy said that she had started every conversation saying that she wanted the community to be involved in the decision “and shame on you,” to those who had misrepresented her words from the previous meeting. Referring to the recent decision to appoint Hoefs to finish Albers’ term, she said she could not at that time justify the cost of a special election. “After that meeting, I can’t even begin to list the number of people who expressed their sheer disappointment in my decision that we did not put it out for the voters in a special election.”
She said Hernandez put the council in this position. Cassidy expressed support for calling a special election this time.
Hernandez returned to the podium. “There shouldn’t be anything different now,” he said.
Tim Winslow, another past Council Member argued in favor of appointing someone to fill the vacant seat. He called it “ludicrous” to ask someone to promise not to run. “If it were I,” Winslow said, “I would run just to make your hair fall out.”
Cassidy made a motion to call a special election. Council Member Oley Olsen seconded the motion.
