This week, the Cloverdale City Council is interviewing five candidates who threw their hats into the ring to fill a vacant council seat that’s set to expire in December 2022. Those five candidates — Joe Palla, Eric Sanders, Maeta Emmons, Nicole Garcia-Hinchliffe and Jenny Candelaria-Orr — will be interviewed during the Cloverdale City Council meeting on June 9.
Additionally, the council will be asking all applicants the same set of interview questions. The questions include:
● Describe your background and how you are uniquely qualified to fill the vacancy on the city council?
● What do you consider are the top one or two challenges currently facing the city and what are the key steps you would take immediately to address them as a newly-elected council member?
● What actions would you take to help improve communicating the city council’s position on a major or significant policy decision such as a development project to the community?
● Describe how you are going to foster positive intra-council working relationships and build consensus on policy decisions?
As part of the application for the vacant position, each applicant submitted materials to the city that outline their community involvement thus far, what subcommittees they would like to be on if appointed to the council, why they were interested in the position, their vision for Cloverdale and other related questions.
The council agenda states that following the public interviews, the council is expecting to appoint and swear in the new council member.
The vacant council seat is a result of an early May resignation from former council member Jason Turner who resigned May 3 due to a professional opportunity. Whoever is selected by the current members of the Cloverdale City Council to fill the seat will do so until the seat expires in December 2022.
To view all of the applications, go here or visit the PDF in the sidebar of this article.
The council meeting can be watched live on the city’s YouTube account or via Zoom.
