Don’t care whom Ari chooses on “The Bachelor?” Time on your hands now that “Monday Night Football” is over? Want to earn $1,947 a month by working part time? Why not apply for the Vancouver City Council?
Actually, these are the worst reasons to apply for such an important and challenging position. But a seat is available for a bright, motivated, civic-minded person.
The city is looking to fill Council Position 1; the application period began last week and runs through 5 p.m. Jan. 18. To be eligible, applicants need to be a registered voter who has lived within the Vancouver city limits for at least the last 30 days (Sorry, Hazel Dell and Orchards, you’re out.) Oh, and you can’t be a felon.
It all sounds so deceptively simple. But let’s hear from Jack Burkman, whose decision last year not to seek re-election sort of set this all in motion.
“Being a council member is a great honor, but with great honor comes great responsibility,” Burkman wrote in a Facebook post last week. “Here is what you would be committing to:
• “Immediately after the appointment you have to take on a full council member load – city meetings and studying for the next Monday’s council meeting, along with serving on other organizations’ boards that require a council member, such as Regional Transportation Council or Council for the Homeless.
• “Simultaneously you have to learn how the city operates, the city budget, all sides of the current hot issues, etc. Typically you would learn this over months while campaigning, but with an appointment you have to learn while doing the job.
• “Also, you need to spend time out in the public at events, neighborhood association meetings and gatherings so you can hear directly from citizens.
• “Then, you also have to start up and run a campaign while doing all of that.
• “What council is paid isn’t typically enough to live on so you likely have a job, family, etc.”
Burkman knows what it takes; twice he served on the council with honor and distinction. As one of seven members of the city’s governing body, council members set policy and determine, for example, the levels of police and fire services that will be provided. They decide on taxes, and what the parking rules will be. They hire and assess the performance of the city manager.
With so much to do, a lot of the interest in council seats in recent years has come from retirees such as Burkman. The time commitment was one of the primary reasons engineer Tim Leavitt, 46, chose not to seek re-election as mayor last fall. And while a retired person may be a great choice for the seat, let’s hope the candidate pool includes young parents, wage earners, entrepreneurs and people of diverse social and ethnic backgrounds.
The schedule calls for applicants’ names to be announced Jan. 24. On Feb. 5, the city will reveal the names of candidates selected for an interview by the current council. Those interviews will take place, in public, on Feb. 5, and the council is expected to choose an appointee that night. The new councilor will take office Feb. 12.
Then comes months of work on issues important to the city and on a 2018 election campaign. The right candidate will find it to be exhausting and exhilarating.
“I encourage any applicant to think about this and go into the process with their eyes wide open,” Burkman said. We couldn’t agree more.
