Canby Herald Online

New city councilors tabbed

Ares, Hodson get the nod Wednesday night

• By: John Baker  
• Published: 9/24/2009 9:41:28 AM
• Last Updated: 9/24/2009 2:17:58 PM

 
After two nights of interviews and discussion, the Canby City Council filled its two open seats Wednesday night.
Councilors spent Tuesday and Wednesday evening talking to nine applicants who had originally applied for Tony Helbling’s vacated seat. However, with the resignation of Wayne Oliver recently, the council got a two for one deal.

When it was over, the council selected Richard Ares and Brian Hodson to fill the two vacant seats. Each term will run through Dec. 31, 2010.

“The council weighed the merits of each candidate and they voted to make a decision,” explained Mayor Melody Thompson. “I think the council just decided that they had a great pool of people and received enough input based on statements and follow-up questions. And, in the interest of getting people on board, they felt
comfortable with their decision and did it.”

Thompson said that while the new councilors will have to hit the ground running, they do have knowledge of the city’s business and economic development programs through the chamber and business community.

“Luckily, both of these new councilors have their feet wet, so to speak,” said Thompson, who added that in other areas the new councilors will be brought along quickly.

She added that she and Council President Walt Daniels, the only original councilor from a year ago, will play an important role in helping the new councilors get up to speed.

“We’ll look for opportunities for staff to provide more in-depth presentations and information for added back story as issues go forward,” Thompson said. “I definitely believe my role is to outline a series of either work sessions or staff reports during meetings that familiarize the new councilors with the status of key goals and projects.”

With the new councilors on board, key missing parts of the city government puzzle are finally starting to be filled in. Thompson said the change in city leadership has been a struggle, but adding Ares and Hodson is the start of moving forward.

“I think anytime you have change or the nature of change that’s been occurring in Canby, the important piece is to move forward with careful, well thought out decisions,” Thompson said. “I think these two council appointments provide some closure in the leadership area of this piece.”

With searches in progress for a new police chief and city administrator, Thompson said the process continues and she feels positive about the future.

“We have some gaps and we needed to do due diligence to fill those gaps, but the chief and city administrator processes are well underway to providing us with great leadership candidates for those positions,” she added. “The council vacancies were one step. We have our team in place and we can pick up where we left off in a better way and move forward.

“I’m really excited about this,” she continued. “I think it bodes well for Canby to have the kind of interest and experience that stepped forward in this round of applicants. I see nothing but positives ahead.”

The new councilors will be sworn in at the Oct. 7 regular council meeting and seated immediately.
 
 

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