18 Apply to Serve on Baker City Council
By Joe Hathaway on Tuesday, October 10th, 2023 in More Top Stories Northeastern Oregon News
BAKER CITY — The stage is set to see who will become the new Baker City councilors.
18 residents applied before the deadline of 5:00pm on Monday, October 9.
They are:
- Patti Burrows
- Doni Bruland
- Nic Carmen
- William Castle
- Lance Cline
- Roger Coles
- Julie Daly
- Randy Daugherty
- Dan Garrick
- Sarah Heiner
- Rocky Horn
- Benjamin Howard
- Loran Joseph
- Norman Kerr
- Margaret Lewis
- Helen Loennig
- Larry Pearson
- Tom Ryder
Now, the Baker County commissioners – Shane Alderson, Bruce Nichols and Christina Witham — will individually review and grade applicants by Thursday, Oct. 12. The top eight candidates, based on overall scoring, will then be invited to attend the county commissioners meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 18 meeting beginning at 1:00pm. The candidates will be given three minutes to say why they are qualified to serve as a counselor.
Commissioners intend to appoint four councilors, enough to re-establish a quorum for the council. Those new councilors will then appoint three new councilors to reach seven.
The Baker City Council currently has no members, after the resignations of the three remaining councilors on September 21. The three’s resignations triggered a state law which states that when a city council has no members, and its charter has no method for dealing with such a situation, the county commissioners “immediately shall appoint” enough councilors to constitute a quorum.
