The Newcastle City Council roundups offer a digest of notable items from the most recent Council Meeting.

Want to know more? There's further detail and description the meeting packet, or you can watch the meeting video.

At last week's City Council Meeting, Councilmembers held an executive session to discuss the qualifications of the eight applicants for the Position 4 vacancy. A bit of background: This open council seat was vacated by former Deputy Mayor Tony Ventrella on August 1, when he moved to Pierce County to be closer to his family. A new Councilmember will be appointed to fill his seat for the remainder of his term, which has a bit over two years left. Newcastle City Council has until October 29th to vote in a candidate; after that, the decision would go to the King County Council. 

After the executive session ended, Councilmembers discussed their preferred criteria for advancing the applications and voted on four candidates to bring forward for open, public interviews:

• Brian Hunsicker
• Claudia Hirschey
• Garrett Mock
• Chris Villasenor

Council voted to hold the interviews on Friday, September 24, from 3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., and they agreed on a series of six questions to ask each of these four candidates.

This meeting primarily focused on this Council vacancy and was light on other areas of business. One other item of note was that Council accepted completion of the T-011 Pavement Management Program for 2021.

And finally: Happy birthday, Councilmember Tom Griffin! Thank you for partying with us on this Open Public Zoom Meeting, the most festive of all possible ways to celebrate any momentous occasion.

Do you want your City Councilmembers to know your preferences and opinions on City issues? You can always email them directly at [email protected], or you can submit public comment, either live at a Council Meeting or by writing to the City Clerk at [email protected].