The Rancho Mirage City Council this week voted to fill the vacancy created by the abrupt resignation of former Councilmember Meg Marker in September over a new conflict of interest policy by appointment.
“The appointment process is a probationary period where residents have an opportunity to observe a council member in action instead of relying on empty campaign promises before casting their votes,” Mayor Steve Downs, who was first appointed to council in 2021, said at the Nov. 7 meeting. “The appointment process also encourages more participation from residents.”
When Downs was appointed, he said there were 16 applicants for the seat, compared to a total of six candidates who ran for the three open seats in the 2022 election. When Councilmember Michael O’Keefe was appointed 11 months ago, Downs said there were 11 applicants for the council vacancy. This election, there were five total candidates for two open seats.
The council previously held off on making a decision for how to fill the seat pending the results of the Nov. 5 election, but with both incumbents currently holding strong leads over the remaining candidates, Downs said that decision of the voters was clear.
“The voters have overwhelmingly supported the appointment choices made by this council in previous years,” Downs said. “At this point in the vote count for this year, it is clear that the same will happen for Michael O’Keefe, who was appointed last year and is now on track to win election by a margin of about 80% compared with the closest losing candidate.”
As of Saturday, O’Keefe had received the most votes with 4,657 ballots cast for him, and Mayor Pro Tem Ted Weill received the second most with 4,376 votes cast for him.
Though Rancho Mirage resident Brad Anderson, who spoke at the meeting, said he would prefer that the city hold a special election for the seat, the council all spoke in support of an appointment to fill the seat.
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“I always have pledged to put the interests of the city of Rancho Mirage above any other agenda,” O’Keefe said. “Therefore, what I think is best for the city, and what is the fairest for all people who would like to serve on the city council, is that we open the application process to anyone who would like to apply and then fill that vacancy with someone to serve until the next election, which I hope by then would be under normal circumstances where everyone who wanted to participate would have a fair chance to do so.”
Downs also rejected an idea that the council simply appoint the person who finishes third in the Nov. 5 election, which at this point would be Wayne Avrashow, who had 2,707 votes as of Saturday.
“We had two incumbents, we had one challenger, and we had two clear opposition candidates who, if you listened to their rhetoric, didn’t like a single thing about this council, and they spoke negatively every chance they had,” he said. “Now, the voters are in the process of accepting the two incumbents, and they are in the process of rejecting the two opposition candidates.”
Downs said that because voters in the city were asked to choose two candidates, and the city does not provide ranked-choice voting, it would be unfair to the voters to simply select someone who did not receive the votes to win a seat on the council outright.
“I believe it would be ridiculous for us to appoint a person who was rejected by the voters in this city,” he said. “So, I reject that idea that we simply pick the person who [came in] third, because we would be disrespecting, in my opinion, the will of the 4,000 plus voters in this city who have voted for Ted Weill and Michael O’Keefe.”
In order to be eligible for appointment, those who apply must be at least 18 years of age and be registered voters in the city of Rancho Mirage. Applications must be submitted before 5 p.m. on Nov. 13.
Interviews for the position will be held Nov. 14 at 3 p.m. during a special city council meeting. The council is set to consider the applicants for appointment at a special meeting set for Nov. 15 at 1 p.m. The application can be found here on the city’s website. Any questions should be directed to City Clerk Kristie Ramos who can be reached by phone at (760) 324-4511, Ext. 488 or via email at kristier@ranchomirageca.gov.
In other council action: The Rancho Mirage City Council voted to change the city’s municipal code when it comes to filling vacancies on the council to align with California Government Code.
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