At the meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 5, the Cottonwood City Council officially accepted the resignation of Councilwoman Deb Althouse from her position on the council, which she had held since winning an election in 2016.
Althouse is soon moving out of Yavapai County and said that she did not want to represent the city in its government if she would be gone soon.
“I did want to on the record during the meeting thank Councilwoman Althouse for her years of service to the community,” said Vice Mayor Tosca Henry, who presided over Tuesday’s meeting with Mayor Tim Elinski absent.
“She had a tremendous impact on the lives of many of our community members. I’ve heard many positive comments from community members about her efforts. She was and is especially passionate about veterans, motorcycle rider safety and education, and some- thing I’ve especially appreciated [is] her sense of fiscal conservatism, and her efforts to reduce city spending in a smart manner as well as to pay down some of our debt and build up our reserves. So I personally would like to thank Deb for her many years of service, and I wish her all the best as she moves forward in this next chapter, adventure, or whatever you like to call it. So thank you Deb.”
In addition to accepting Althouse’s resignation, the council set about establishing a process to replace Althouse on the city council. This is the second time in the past year that the council has engaged in such a process, after Councilwoman Jackie Nairn was appointed to replace former Vice Mayor Kyla Allen in March.
“Because there is enough time prior to the next election, the seat would only be filled by that person until the next election, and they would be required to run or vacate the seat in favor of somebody else,” Cottonwood City Attorney Stephen Horton said to open up the discussion of finding Althouse’s replacement.
The council is seeking to open up the vacancy to applications to the council, which will then directly interview candidates and vote on a replacement, similarly to how they handled Nairn’s appointment. At Tuesday’s meeting, the council discussed the timeline for filling the seat.
“We’re going right into the Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s holidays,” Henry said. “People have vacation, so if we’re trying to recruit a good number of applicants for the position, how we time the closing of the application process and the holidays is something we do need to consider.”
City Manager Ron Corbin said that the council should try to have someone seated in time for the council’s strategic planning retreat held annually in early January, though he noted that since the retreat is open to the public, if the potential council members all attended, that would work as well.
“Having the council member appointed when we start our strategic planning I think would be beneficial,” Councilman Doug Hulse said. He said that he did not want a situation where a candidate was not able to attend and therefore at a disadvantage compared to other applicants. He recommended an earlier date for the process. “I don’t believe that there should be a whole lot of problems. People who want to apply were probably already planning to make their presentations, since it’s been in the newspaper and been announced.”
“I think it would be prudent for us to fill the position as quickly as we can, so that we have a full council as quickly as possible,” Nairn said. The council voted unanimously to go with the most accelerated time- line for the vacancy, with an application deadline of Nov. 21, with council discussion and appointment on Nov. 25, Dec. 5 and Dec. 10.
At Tuesday’s meeting, former Cottonwood City Councilman Jesse Dowling, who himself left the council due to moving out of the city, announced that he would be seeking to fill the vacancy, having since moved back within city limits.
“I wish I had a hat I could throw [in],” Dowling said. “I had already been considering a run for the council in the next 2020 cycle, so when I heard this I thought I might as well give it a shot.”
A candidate must be 18 years old, a qualified elector residing within the city, and must have resided within the city for at least one year immediately preceding the appointment. The individual appointed will be eligible to serve until the fall 2020 election.
Applications may be obtained from the City Clerk’s office located at 824 North Main St. Completed applications, along with a résumé and letter of interest must be returned to the City Clerk’s office by 5 p.m., on Thursday, Nov. 21.
