Mayor Applications Due Nov. 12th

The council decided to set November 12th as the deadline for mayor applications and will hold a public interview process at its meeting on November 17th. Mayor Pro-tem Huson will remain as mayor until November 18th.

Here's how the debate unfolded at the meeting last night:

Council Member Albertson made a motion to appoint Council Member Stebner as mayor. He gave his reasons, followed by a long pause waiting for someone to second his motion. Council Member Hedrick then stated he wanted an open, public process. He has been "blindsided" by three appointments that he had not been allowed to participate in. This time there should be a firm end date for applications; and questions and answers should be exchanged with the candidates. Council members decided to email potential questions to him that he will provide to applicants.

Council Member Hunt noted she had heard secondhand about someone that might be interested in the position today. Since no notice had been given that a decision would be made at the meeting tonight, she wanted to extend the application time.

Albertson wanted to know who this person was, but Hunt refused to name them since she had not talked to them personally. Alberston said they had all heard the rumors and wanted things to be open and honest for once. Council Member Stebner said we should quit playing games and needed to move forward on this issue immediately.

At this point Hunt seconded the motion to appoint Stebner so that discussion could continue. Alberston stated this was all a put up job. After more discussion (which included Albertson stating the mystery person was in the room and Huson was looking at them) the vote to appoint Stebner was defeated 2-3 (Albertson and Stebner voting yes).

Hunt then made a motion to have the town clerk run a second announcement with a November 12th deadline. Stebner asked if she meant November 2008 or 2009. Stebner asked again who this potential applicant was. Hunt replied it was none of his business.

Albertson didn't think there was anyone in town who did not know about the mayor vacancy. Huson joked that maybe people loved him so much (as mayor) no one wanted to apply. He then announced he was considering applying for the mayoral appointment himself. Stebner wanted him to take the appointment immediately. Instead, the motion to follow the application process was approved 3-2 (Albertson and Stebner voting no).