Brentwood to survey residents on how to fill council vacancy
One seat became vacant when Bryant won mayoral election in November
BRENTWOOD >> Because it couldn’t reach a consensus, the Brentwood City Council will survey voters to see how the council seat of Joel Bryant should be filled.
Bryant was elected mayor in the Nov. 3 election, and the atlarge council seat he won in 2018 doesn’t come up for a regular election until November 2022.
The council couldn’t decide whether to appoint former Councilwoman Karen Rarey to Bryant’s seat after she lost to him in the mayoral election, appoint someone from a list of applicants or have a special election. An allmail special election May 4 could cost $140,448 to $200,640, and a polling place/mail-in election
Nov. 21 could cost $200,640 to $280,896.
Of the 18 council seat vacancies since 1949, all except for two have been filled through appointments, according to a staff report.
Among the 100 residents who called into Tuesday’s council meeting or wrote, 97 suggested appointing Rarey.
One resident, Rod Flohr, said a recent straw poll on social media showed that most people didn’t want to see an application process because the interviews are “scant” and those known to the council are favored anyway.
“It could easily be abused by council members wanting to place a preselected favorite in the seat,” he added. “There’s nothing about the process that takes the will of the voters into account, nor is there any involvement by the voter.”
Though the fairest way to choose a council member would be through a special election, Flohr suggested that appointing Rarey would be an easy, reasonable alternative.
Carolina Villaseca concurred, noting that the city “can’t hang out until May not getting anything done” if the council continues to split votes with no fifth member to break the tie. Nor does the city have the money to pay for a special election, she said.
Although appointing Rarey would overly represent the western edge of the city, Villaseca noted that could be rectified in the 2022 regular election because by then district boundaries likely will be redrawn based on the 2020 census.
To resident Kathy Griffin, the decision should be an easy one.
“With less than 2% of the votes separating the two of them (Rarey and Bryant), and both of them garnering almost 57 % of the at
large mayoral vote, it is clear to me and many residents that Karen should be selected for the remaining (council term),” Griffin said.
But in a lengthy discussion that followed, neither Bryant nor Councilman Johnny Rodriguez wanted
to appoint Rarey outright.
Bryant said he was concerned about having too many council members from the same part of town and wants to open it up for others.
“I’d like to give them an opportunity to apply as well and represent a larger geographical area,” he said.
Rodriguez also noted that if Rarey is appointed, four of the five council members
would live within a mile of one another. Rodriguez is the only council member who lives in a different part of the city.
“That was one of the reasons I was asked to run (in 2018), because there was lack of representation for the whole community, and I feel that would just take us back to that,” he said.
The two newest council members saw the issue dif
ferently.
“I would feel most comfortable with just appointing Karen,” Councilwoman Jovita Mendoza said. “… She is kind of like an encyclopedia of what goes on, and I think it would be to our benefit to have that resource on the council.”
Councilwoman Susannah Meyer also supported Rarey, saying it’s clear she has taken her seat “seri
ously” and “has dedicated herself as a public servant.” An application process, she cautioned, would not necessarily result in “a truly qualified candidate.”
Mendoza motioned to appoint Rarey and Meyer seconded it, but Rodriguez and Bryant dissented. Mendoza then motioned to have a special election by mail, seconded by Meyer, which the other two council members
also rejected.
The only consensus the council could reach was to survey residents through Dec. 28.
The council also agreed to have a special meeting at 6 p.m. Dec. 29 to revisit the matter. To fill out the survey, go to brentwoodca.gov or call 925-516-5187.