Gresham City Council.jpg
The Gresham City Council -- seen here with former Councilor Michael McCormick (second from right) in May 2015 -- appointed a new member to fill the vacancy on Aug. 19, 2015.
(Tony Hernandez/The Oregonian)
City Councilor David Widmark, seen here in 2014.
The Gresham City Council filled a vacancy this week in an unannounced vote after members discussed two candidates in the hallways some time before a meeting.
The council then announced in public the nomination and voted unanimously with little discussion Tuesday.
Council President Jerry Hinton said he spoke with other councilors, in one-on-one or two-on-one discussions, before he nominated Councilor David Widmark, who has been elected and appointed to the City Council multiple times. The new councilor said he had no intention of running for re-election next year.
"We felt we needed to draw on someone with past experience," Hinton said. "That would allow the voters to elect someone in the next election of their choosing, as opposed to someone that would take this appointment and then run again."
Faced with a 30-day deadline mandated by the city's charter, Mayor Shane Bemis called the appointment a seamless transition between Widmark taking Position 5 and the sudden vacancy left by former Councilor Michael McCormick, who resigned Aug. 10. McCormick resigned days after his wife filed a restraining order against him.
The four-year term ends in December 2016.
"It was important to me, especially given the circumstance around the resignation, that we didn't skip a beat," Bemis said on Wednesday. He said choosing someone who would be interested in running for election, instead of Widmark, would have given that person the advantage of incumbency on a term that ends in less than 1.5 years.
According to the city, Widmark served on the City Council from 1996 to 1998. He was appointed to finish council vacancies in 2005 and again in 2007. He was elected in 2008 and served as council president in 2010. He's also served on the city's Finance Committee and Planning Commission.
He worked for the U.S. Forestry Service for 36 years before working as general manager and public relations director for Cramer Fish Sciences until 2008.
Widmark, who is the chairman of the Home Forward Board of Commissioners, said he was honored and that he would do his best "to support not only the Council and the city staff but also the citizens of this community and those that are less fortunate than we are," according to the city's announcement.
The city's charter doesn't exactly lay out a process about how the council should choose an appointee. It basically says the vacancy must be filled by appointment and by a majority vote.
"Nothing in the Gresham Charter, Gresham Revised Code, nor the Gresham Council Rules establishes a process for appointment to fill a vacant councilor position," said David Ris, city attorney. "Therefore, Council is free to use whatever process deemed appropriate."
When questioned if issues, such as a council appointment, need to be publicly announced before a vote, Ris said, "Agendas are required but nothing prevents Council from discussing matters not on the agenda. In this case, the appointment was brought up under the Good of the Order agenda item."
On Tuesday, no other candidate was nominated and the council members unanimously approved Widmark.
Hinton said one other name came up during those hallway conversations: former Councilor Paul Warr-King. However, he's currently serving on the Finance Committee, a group that helps establish a budget and also currently tasked to establish full-time wages for the mayor and City Council. Voters approved the effort this year.
The mayor said Widmark's qualifications and his intention not to run for election next year were discussed during Tuesday's meeting and heard by members of the public who were present.
Carol Rulla, president of the Coalition of Gresham Neighborhood Associations, was not at the meeting. For years, Rulla has been a frequent visitor to City Council meetings and has served on the city's Charter Review Committee.
"I heard from other neighborhood leaders who are disappointed in the appearance of a closed door solicitation," Rulla said. "We've had quite a few vacancies over the years, and they've always solicited applications and held a meeting to interview people and vote publicly."
Rulla said this City Council has made some good decisions for the city, but she wished the City Council had notified the public about the discussion and potential selection.
"I was surprised that they did this without the usual public process of soliciting applications," Rulla said. "David Widmark is a good guy, and this is not at all a comment on his abilities."
Bemis and councilors were on a break from meetings when McCormick resigned. In an email Bemis sent to the City Council on Friday, he suggested they come ready to discuss the vacancy to see if a consensus emerges.
"We have taken several different approaches to filling vacancies in the past," Bemis wrote. "From my perspective, no single approach really stands out as better than the others (regardless of how it is approached, the task inevitably feels a bit awkward)."
Councilors could have voted in any of the three remaining scheduled meetings before the Sept. 9 deadline, officials said Wednesday. Bemis said for this circumstance, the city should have a councilor "who can step in right away and articulate the city's vision, and who helped create that vision."
For anyone who feels like the decision to appoint Widmark was quick or that they didn't get the chance to apply for the position, the mayor said interested people should file the paperwork and run for City Council next year.
-- Tony Hernandez
thernandez@oregonian.com
503-294-5928
@tonyhreports