Mayor appointment tops Monday’s unusual agenda

This is believed to be a first for Hood River City government: Council appointments are relatively frequent, but this is believed to be the first for the role of mayor.

Jason Gibson, Kate McBride, and Edwin Wilder will take turns answering six questions (see list, A5) posed to them by council members Mark Zanmiller, Megan Saunders, Tim Counihan, Jessica Metta and Erick Haynie.

(Former Mayor Paul Blackburn resigned in August and has moved to Washington, D.C., necessitating the appointment of someone to fill out the current term, which expires in December 2020.)

McBride, who is council president and acting mayor until an appointment is made, will gavel the meeting to order and lead the assembly in the Pledge of Allegiance, following normal custom.

Then things get changed up.

Zanmiller, who shares seniority on council with McBride, will presides over the interview process. McBride will move to the audience along with Gibson and Wilder during the interviews and deliberation.

The five council members will take turns asking six questions of the applicants, with all three taking turns answering each question. The order of response will change with each question. Candidates are limited to two minutes per response.

Following the interviews, the five council members are scheduled to immediately deliberate in open session and vote, according to City Manager Rachael Fuller.

The new mayor will be immediately sworn into office.

 Fuller said the process varies from past council appointments, in that all three candidates will take the questions in order and hear each others’ responses.

“We felt this was efficient, transparent, and fair,” Fuller said. The questions were drafted by Counihan and Metta.

Also on the agenda: The council will consider Planning Commission recommendations on the Land Use section of the proposed Westside Plan, and hear a report from Columbia Area Transit on its master plan process, and consider a proclamation for the annual Drive Less Challenge.