Meeting will be held Thursday to interview candidates, choose replacement for Pierce
By ROBERT DIGITALE
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT


Published: Monday, May 26, 2008 at 4:30 a.m.
Last Modified: Monday, May 26, 2008 at 5:56 a.m.

Seven applicants are seeking an appointment to the Sebastopol City Council, including two former mayors, a school board member and two residents with experience on the city's planning commission.

The applicants include former mayors Richard Johnson and Nick Stewart; Sebastopol school board member Guy Wilson; planning commissioner Jen Thille; former planning commissioner Craig Williams; Palm Drive Health Care Foundation board member Kathleen Shaffer; and Betty DeConter, an operating clerk for Pacific Gas & Electric Co.

The current council members will hold a special meeting Thursday to interview the candidates. The meeting is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. with the location to be determined.

Mayor Craig Litwin said last week that the council intends Thursday to appoint one of the applicants to fill the vacancy created when Councilman Sam Pierce resigned earlier this month.

Pierce, a council member for more than three years, said he resigned "due to recent developments -- personal, professional and within the council."

Pierce mentioned no fellow council member, but the resignation came two days after he failed to obtain an inquiry into the conduct of Councilwoman Linda Kelley during her recent vandalism trial. Pierce had claimed that in the trial Kelley's attorney had suggested that he was conspiring against Kelley with the Police Department.

Pierce's replacement would be appointed days before the council resumes its public hearings on an ambitious redevelopment plan for the northeast section of the city. The plan, which includes a public square, 300 new housing units and nearly 400,000 square feet of business and civic space, has drawn both support and strong criticism.

At a past meeting, council members said that knowledge of the northeast plan would be a key criterion for choosing the next council member.

Thille and Shaffer had earlier filed papers with City Hall to show their intent to run for the council this fall when the terms were to end for Pierce and Litwin.

You can reach Staff Writer Robert Digitale at 521-5285 or [email protected].