With Joe Marine’s election to be Mayor, Council now has to appoint someone to fill Marine’s Council vacancy. Our system of having the voters choose those they want to represent them supports your appointment of someone the voters want. Our system does not switch to now having four Councilmembers choose someone they personally want instead of what the voters want. You have acknowledged that you represent Mukilteo’s residents. Those residents are the residents who elected you to be on the Council.
With a very recent election just concluded you know who the voters wanted. [Tom] Jordal and [Kevin] Stoltz ran for one of the Council positions. Jordal won by a small margin. He received 3,815 (51.5%) and Stoltz received 3,589 (48.5%) of the 7,404 votes. Stoltz received more votes than any other candidate who did not win the position they ran for. It is obvious the voters wanted both Jordal and Stoltz on the Council. They both just happened to run for the same position and only one could be elected for that one position.
Now there are a bunch of people who say they want to be on the Council and want you to appoint them to fill this vacancy. Six of them did not file or campaign for a Council position. Voters do not know who they are or anything about them that would cause voters to select them for a Council position. These applicants did not bother to run for a Council position but now would have you believe they want to be and should be on the Council to decide how to run our City of Mukilteo.
Although the law provides that filling a vacancy should be by a majority of the Council, it should not be a personal decision as to who you appoint but a decision based on who the voters you represent want. In this case you have very recent concrete information about who the voters preferred from the election results. No need to guess about that as the vote count was clear and independently determined.
Kevin Stoltz received 3,589 votes out of 7, 404 votes, [this is] clearly documented evidence who the voters wanted to be on the Council to represent them. You should demonstrate that you make decisions based on what your constituents want and appoint Kevin Stoltz to fill the Council vacancy. This will meet the long-standing precedent of having a Council that the voters wanted and not a personal choice of a four-member majority of individual Councilmembers.
Charlie Pancerzewski
Mukilteo, WA
Author: Lynnwood Times Staff
