City Council Vacancy Subcommittee Meeting Notes 06/07/22
Today the Vacancy Subcommittee and the rest of Council will be picking the final list of candidates that will be interviewed on June 9th. They will also be finalizing the list of questions that the applicants should be prepared to answer.
In the last special meeting, the subcommittee narrowed down the list of applicants to these ten people:
Brittany Brown
Mark Capell
David Daniels
Jordan Elliott
Mo Mitchell
Stephen Platt
Stephen Sehgal
Judith Sieigler
Wait, that's not 10 people, that's 8 people. The list seems to have lost two people when I wasn't looking. Where did Jennifer Lynch and Steven Jorgensen go?
Maybe they thought hard about it, and decided that now wasn't their time. It's an important job with a large time commitment that would take way more work than just summarizing the meetings. Plus, do they REALLY want to be a public figure? They can barely even handle the diluted notoriety of a pseudonym. Maybe after they finish school and have been doing these summaries for longer it would make more sense...
ANYWAYS.
Review Short List and Finalize list of Candidates to Interview
Councilor Kebler says that they narrowed it down to 10 names last meeting. They did it by comparing their top candidates list. Two of the 10 people have been removed from the list, one did not live in city limits, and the other withdrew their application.
Kebler preferred applicants that are not going to run in the next election, could get started immediately and would not cause a delay in the City's goals. Councilor Perkins picked her list around people who could work within the system of government and could get to work day one since it is such a short term position. She picked people that would reflect the values of the people they are replacing.
Now that the list already narrowed itself down to eight, does Council want to narrow it down further? Mayor Goodman-Campbell is happy with the list of 8. It is worth talking with all these folks. Councilor Barb Campbell agrees. She is happy with the 8 applicants. 20 minutes is short, but adequate.
Mayor Goodman-Campbell thanked all 36 people who applied by name and for their past work in public service. She included details from every single resume. Kebler did the same for her short list.
Discuss Interview Process and Questions
Manager King emailed the council a list of 12-ish questions to pick from, made from the themes they brought up last meeting. Council narrowed down the list to 5:
Opening Question: Take a few minutes to tell us about yourself, your background and other key elements of your personal and professional Life that have prepared and motivated you to apply for this position.
Work in a Team Setting / Within a System: The councilors were not super happy with any of the options for this question, so they are going to mash a few of them together. Sounds like its going to be some variation of "Tell us how you will integrate yourself, establish credibility and build and maintain positive working relationships with your fellow councilors and City staff?" Not sure though.
Ability and alignment to achieve the Council Goals and Workplan: Given that council is already one year into a 2 year work plan (found here) please tell us how your strengths align with that plan, where they do not, and how you would you work within the City system?
Lived experience/ representing Bend: I couldn't type the whole question before they moved on to the next one, but this is how it started. As a city councilor you will be working with a large range of people from diverse backgrounds something something.
Responding to public criticism, conflict managed, and capacity of time and energy needed to be effective in the role: How will you maintain your resiliency in a very public role that is often managing through challenging and controversial issues? What is your plan for how you will manage the time and energy needed to be successful in this role? The will also add dates and times of meetings here and ask if the candidate is able to commit to making all of the meetings.
The final list of questions will be sent out to candidates tonight.
Meeting Adjourned.
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