Dec. 27 — Plan needed before filling vacant council spot

The last time the Puyallup City Council gathered, they decided to start trying as soon as they reconvene in the new year to fill the spot Kathy Turner is vacating when she moves to the At-Large position.

They originally planned to start interviewing applicants for the empty city council position during the first meeting and once they have someone in place, approving a mayor.

Upon reflection, several of the council members suggested switching the order of things and beginning the interviewing process a week later and appointing mayor right away. Puyallup’s mayor is based on city council seniority and then approved by the rest of the council members.

If they change the order, then during the first council meeting of the year, an incomplete city council would be responsible for approving the next mayor. That would leave the person who is eventually appointed to the vacant position without a voice in approving who is mayor.

It’s a scenario that has caused concern for several people in the community. They believe that it’s a simple matter of putting the cart before the horse – filling the vacant position should be the first order of business and all seven council members should get the chance to vote on who becomes the next mayor. They liked the initial order.

The reason for the change, though, has nothing to do with wanting to put Don Malloy into the mayor position without a full council. City policy states that it requires four councilmembers to approve the move. If he meets that requirement with six people on the council, it can be assumed that he would still have the needed approval if all the spots were filled. Instead, the change in scheduling has to do with wanting to give the council a chance to plan how they will fill that empty spot. Having to replace someone mid-term isn’t something that’s happened too often in Puyallup and they need to make sure they go about it in the best possible way.

As things stand at the moment, there isn’t a plan of attack. The council doesn’t know if they’ll give applicants the chance to make an opening statement. They don’t know if there will be a time limit when answering questions. In fact, they don’t even know what questions they will ask.

It’s not that they have been dragging their feet in making these decisions — they can’t make any of these decisions until they meet for the first time because they can’t discuss any of these details outside of a public meeting.

It would be irresponsible for the council to start the process of filling the empty council seat at their first meeting before taking time to plan how to proceed. That first meeting is the perfect chance to get all their ducks in a row; approving the mayor at that point doesn’t do any harm and saves time.