Deadlock leads to two-pronged approach
The Windsor Town Council restructured and seated its election winners on Dec. 2, but it couldn’t come to a decision on how to fill the newly-empty seat of Dominic Foppoli.
Foppoli’s win in the at-large mayoral race leaves the remaining two years of his council seat vacant, and the council now has 60 days to decide if they will fill it by appointment or by calling a special election. They also have to decide if they call for a special election, if it will be mail only or a full election.
The seat being vacated by Foppoli is a four year at-large seat with two years remaining in the term, expiring in December 2022. The seat being vacated is not a district seat and will remain an at-large seat for the remainder of the term. Therefore, any qualified resident of the town may be appointed or elected to fill the vacancy; this vacancy need not be filled from any specific district.
However, when the seat comes up for election in 2022, the appointed council person must run to represent the district in which they reside.
If the council chooses to fill the vacant seat by appointment, the person appointed must be a member of the public who legally resides within the town limits and is registered to vote.
According to the town’s attorney Jose Sanchez, there are no state laws or municipal code provisions establishing specific procedures to make an appointment. No formal application process is required, and the town council may appoint any eligible person to fill the vacancy. They can decide to simply nominate individuals or go through an application and interview process.
However, if the council opts to fill the vacancy by appointment and hold interviews, the Brown Act requires the interviews be conducted by the entire council in open session, along with any discussion or vote. The appointment must be completed prior to Jan. 31, 2021, or the town will automatically default into a special election.
Most of the concerns around an appointment process had to do with transparency and whether an appointment would circumvent “the will of the people.”
The town council may also choose to call a special election to fill the vacancy, which will require the vote of a majority of a quorum of the council.
A mailed ballot election can be held the first Tuesday following the first Monday in May of each year (May 4, 2021). However, to hold a mailed ballot election on May 4, 2021, the council must call the special election not less than 114 days prior, which is Jan. 10, 2021. The next mailed ballot election date is the last Tuesday in August of each year (August 31, 2021); however, to hold an election on this date, the council must still call the election no later than Jan. 31, 2021.
The primary issues with a special election are the cost — estimated to be between $62,000 and $100,000 — and the fact that the council would be missing its fifth vote for between five and eight months.
In fact, part of what threw a spanner in the works was that after Foppoli was sworn in as mayor, and Debora Fudge was sworn in as the newly-elected councilmember from District 3, longtime councilmember Bruce Orkepkie (see sidebar), who had chosen not to run for reelection, left the council at four members.
Without the tie-breaking fifth member, the council became deadlocked on filling the seat when Esther Lemus and newly-chosen Vice Mayor Sam Salmon voiced support for a special election and Foppoli and Fudge voiced support for an appointment process.
Public comment demonstrated some of the deep divisions within the town, with those in favor of the special election stating they had no trust in the council, but a majority of commenters being in favor of appointment and giving full-throated support to the council. However, a significant number of comments received via email urged the council to appoint Rosa Reynoza, who came second in the mayoral race, to the seat.
Since this discussion was meant to be about selecting a process, rather than discussing any individuals, Foppoli asked for comments and discussion to be focused on that process, but that didn’t stop Reynoza from calling in on the Zoom and pitching herself to be appointed.
However, many of the people in favor of an appointment process also mentioned the need for the appointed person to have experience in governance such as serving on a commission or committee.
When it came time for the council members to explain their thoughts, the deadlock came into play.
Lemus called a special election “a vote of the people,” but was significantly concerned about the cost of said election. She asked for some financial figures from town staff, and while the next year’s budgeting report is not yet available, Town Manager Ken MacNab did allow that current financial forecasts for the town are sobering, and that paying for an election may very well mean cutting of jobs or programs.
Salmon felt that whoever held the seat could have a significant impact on the future of the town, and therefore should be chosen by the residents.
Foppoli and Fudge however, felt that holding another election would continue to damage divisions in the town.
“Having been someone who just went through an election I’m heading toward an appointment process. In 24 years of being on the council this was the most unpleasant, unsavory election that we’ve been through and I felt our town was divided when didn’t need to be. I was and am still not over the election and someone teased me and said I had PTSD and yeah I still do,” Fudge said. “I don’t want to see Windsor go through that again and see actions taken against people happening again. Had it not been like it was, maybe I wouldn’t feel this way. But, I’m also concerned about cost as we’re trying not to lay off employees. I understand viewpoint of wanting an election and in other years without COVID and budget issues and what we just went through I might choose differently, but because of all those things just happening I think should appoint but would like to interview together and choose together.”
“I agree with Deb … and I think we’re finally starting to heal as a town. Today on the Green for the first time I was seeing people smile and greet each other and wish them a happy holiday and we are going to rip that wound right back open and people will draw battle lines and it will be four month of town fighting and spending $100,00 when we’re talking about layoffs,” said Foppoli. “My plea is, I’m fine with a completely public, open, transparent process as need be but to avoid, for all of those reasons, splitting the town up. We can transparently, openly and fairly decide on a replacement rather than go back into election season.”
While these arguments resonated with Lemus, she wanted more information before considering changing her vote. “I’d like to concur with Deb and Dominic,” she said. “It was really ugly, and I was shocked to see how things unfolded. I was very disappointed quite frankly. Cost is a big part of this, and I would like to have a discussion about that. A priority for all of us and for me personally is to save jobs; I recognize we are in COVID and if there is information (on the impact of spending money on an election) I would love to get that information.”
Ultimately, the council couldn’t’ decide on a process, so they decided to move forward on two prongs and make a decision armed with more information.
One prong would be for town staff to gather and present information on the potential impacts of the cost of the election and the long and short term financial outlook for the town. While this will be agendized for the next meeting, MacNab cautioned that it would be “from a 10,000-foot perspective” because staff is not able to present specific numbers yet.
The other prong would be to open an application process for potential appointees, so that those interested in the seat would have time to get their applications in. The application period was set from Dec. 7 to Dec. 28, and if the council decides on a special election, the applications will be disregarded. The application will be similar to those used by Healdsburg and Santa Rosa when they recently had to appoint new council members. Town Clerk Maria De La O will be finalizing and then collecting the applications in the coming weeks.
The next council meeting is on Dec. 16 and the council hopes to make a final decision on the process at that meeting following additional presentations from staff.
Other items of note:
- The town was awarded a $2.8 million grant from the California Transportation Commission for its roundabout project, making over half the cost of the project now paid for by grant funding.
- A “whirl wheel,” a new inclusive play apparatus, has been installed at the park at the Town Green. The play apparatus allows children in wheelchairs or with other mobility issues to play alongside their able-bodied counterparts without any transfer or mobility concerns. The project was paid for by funds from Measure M.
- The Community Development Department has received an application for a construction materials processing facility owned by BoDean Co. for a 14-acre parcel at 540 Calletti Avenue.
