At its March 26 meeting, Chula Vista City Council set a special council meeting for Thursday, April 4, beginning at 4 p.m., to interview the eight qualified applicants to fill the District 4 seat vacated by former council member Andrea Cardenas.
Council came to consensus on the following steps in conducting the interviews, hopefully leading to a decision of filling the seat.
Interview questions will not be prepared before the April 4 meeting. Council members are asked to bring in two to three questions and council will deliberate on what questions will be used, and who will ask the questions. They came to consensus that each candidate will be asked the same questions.
Interviews are expected to last approximately 10 minutes for each applicant, giving them a three-minute introduction, one question from each council member, and a one-minute closing statement. Per the municipal code, public comments will take place before the interview process begins, and again after the interviews are over, before Council goes into deliberation.
In procedures for the deliberation and appointment, the process begins with the council members, in a predetermined seniority role, nominating a candidate for appointment and allowing for a second of the motion. Nominations and seconds are held without action until all four council members have an opportunity to make a motion. Once all members make nominations and are seconded, a vote will be taken in the same seniority order. This process will continue until at least three council members vote to appoint a candidate. If this happens, the candidate will be sworn in immediately. If Council cannot make a majority vote out of the eight candidates, the seat will remain vacant until the November elections.
“The goal is to have a very open and transparent process. I believe that we can have that done. And I am excited that we have eight qualified applicants who have applied and want to do something to help their community,” said Mayor John McCann.
Among the applicants to fill the seat through November are: Christine Brady, Sharmane Estolano, Megan Moore, Rachel Morineau, Guadalupe Ruiz, Nicholas Segura Jr., John Volland, and Daniel Zavala-Soto
All applicants’ applications, and accompanying documents are on the City’s website for the public to view.
