Town is accepting applications for Lacher’s council position; deadline Dec. 30

County Fire Marshal Bob Low has applied for the Friday Harbor Town Council seat that will become vacant when Carrie Lacher becomes mayor Jan. 1. Low received 305 votes to Lacher's 429 votes in the mayoral election Nov. 3. Lacher's council term expires Dec. 31, 2011. Town Council members receive $85 a meeting, with a maximum of four meetings per month. They help approve budgets, set policy, and determine town government's direction on public services and quality of life issues.

December 9, 2009 3:58 pm

County Fire Marshal Bob Low has applied for the Friday Harbor Town Council position that will become vacant when Carrie Lacher becomes mayor Jan. 1.

Low received 305 votes to Lacher’s 429 votes in the mayoral election Nov. 3. Lacher’s council term expires Dec. 31, 2011.

Town Council members receive $85 a meeting, with a maximum of four meetings per month. They help approve budgets, set policy, and determine town government’s direction on public services and quality of life issues.

The town is accepting letters of interest and resumes from possible candidates for Lacher’s council position until Dec. 30, 4:30 p.m. The council is expected to appoint a new member after its first meeting in January, Town Clerk Amy Taylor said.

Interested? Send a letter and resume to:

Town of Friday Harbor
Attn: David F. Jones, Mayor
P.O. Box 219
60 Second St.
Friday Harbor, WA 98250

For more information, call the town administrator or town clerk at 378-2810.

Second-place finishers have been appointed to council positions in the past as a nod to their interest. Wally Gillette, who lost a Town Council race to Howard Rosenfeld by one vote in November 2001, was appointed four months later to a council position vacated by Vonda Sheiman, who resigned.

Because of a perennial dearth of candidates, those appointed to council positions often find they have jobs for a while.

Gillette ran unopposed for a full term in November 2003.

Kelley Balcomb-Bartok, appointed to the council in January 2007 to fill a vacancy caused by Rosenfeld’s election to the County Council, ran unopposed in the November election to decide who would serve the rest of the term, which expires Dec. 31, 2009. He resigned in June 2008 to take a job with the City of Renton; Anna Maria de Freitas was appointed to succeed Balcomb-Bartok and was elected last month to a full term. She ran unopposed.

Ditto for Noel Monin, who was appointed in June to the council position vacated by Christopher Wolf, who resigned to teach in Qatar. Monin was unopposed in the November election to decide who would serve the rest of the term, which expires Dec. 31, 2011.