Applications are due Friday for candidates seeking an appointment to the District 1 Hollister City Council seat vacated by former Councilman Ray Friend.
The applications are due by 4 p.m. Candidates can send a cover letter and resume to [email protected] or in person to the City Clerk’s office at 375 Fifth St. If anyone has questions, he or she can phone Clerk Christine Black at (831) 636-4300, ext. 16.
Current council members will conduct interviews from 4-6 p.m. Oct. 1, and will announce the appointee afterward.
This seat is the one left vacant when Friend resigned. The former council member who served since 2008 left the post she he could move closer to family in Washington. He submitted his resignation July 11, four days before a deadline for the council to place the open seat on the November ballot.
But Friend chose an official resignation date of Aug. 7, which was after the deadline and precluded the council from getting it on the ballot. It’s unclear when Friend came to the realization he would move out of state, but a public post on social media in late June showed his house was going up for sale.
Council members ultimately voted 3-1 to opt for an appointment instead of a special election, which could have taken place in March at the earliest and would have cost up to $75,000. Council members when making the decision had been told it would cost between $75,000 and $150,000, but Black later clarified the estimated cost was a maximum of $75,000 for a district election.
District 1 encompasses the north-central part of Hollister. To see a district map, go here.
