Baker County commissioners choose city council finalists
By Joe Hathaway on Monday, October 16th, 2023 in More Top Stories Northeastern Oregon News
BAKER CITY — Baker County Commissioners have selected their eight finalists for the Baker City Council:
Doni Bruland
Randy Daugherty
Larry Pearson
Roger Coles
Loran Joseph
Sandy Lewis
Dan Garrick
Julie Daly
All eight applicants are now invited to speak in front of the commissioners next Wednesday, October 18, and given three minutes to say why they are qualified to serve.
The commissioners will then appoint four councilors that day.
The three commissioners, Shane Alderson, Bruce Nichols and Christina Witham, reviewed applications and letters of intent from 17 Baker residents and rated each on a grading scale.
The results were then tallied to compile the eight finalists.
Of the eight candidates, six are former city councilors: Bruland, Coles, Daughtery, Joseph, Pearson and Lewis.
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 on a later date.
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.
