A Fresh Start: New Baker City councilors to be appointed today
By Joe Hathaway on Wednesday, October 18th, 2023 in More Top Stories Northeastern Oregon News
BAKER CITY — After months of tumultuous disorder and nearly a month of having no working government, Baker City is set to get back on track.
Four new councilors will be appointed today by the Baker County Commissioners at a meeting scheduled for 1:00pm. The eight candidates will be given three minutes to say why they are qualified to serve as a counselor.
Those finalists are:
Doni Bruland
Randy Daugherty
Larry Pearson
Roger Coles
Loran Joseph
Sandy Lewis
Dan Garrick
Julie Daly
Of the eight candidates, six are former city councilors: Bruland, Coles, Daughtery, Joseph, Pearson and Lewis.
The three Baker County commissioners, Shane Alderson, Bruce Nichols and Christina Witham, intend to appoint four councilors, enough to re-establish a quorum for the council.
“What I am looking for in a candidate is experience and the ability to work with each other,” said Shane Alderson, Baker County Commission Chair. “This isn’t the time to learn on the job.”
The new councilors will then appoint three new councilors to reach seven on a later date .The incoming council also faces numerous tasks upon arrival at Baker City Hall. These tasks include appointing a permanent city manager to oversee daily operations and addressing an ongoing revenue deficit that poses a threat to essential city services.
Once the council has returned to seven members, they will serve through the remainder of 2024.
Baker City voters will elect a completely new set of seven councilors during the November 2024 election.
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.
