RSSCity Council applicant list swells to 29
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As a recently retired machinist, Don Franklin is clear about his motivation to serve on the Yakima City Council.
"I don't play golf and I'm not gonna learn to play golf," says Franklin, who moved to Yakima from California a couple years ago after a long career with the Southern Pacific railroad.
"That's the thing," he adds. "I've got all kinds of time. I was too busy working and raising a family when I was younger, and now that I'm retired I can't wait to dig in and help out."
Whether Franklin gets that chance remains to be seen. Not only were there a huge number of applicants for a rare mid-term vacancy on the council, some of the candidates are prominent and well-connected.
Over the course of two weeks, the city received 29 applications for the vacancy being left by outgoing council member Norm Johnson. The deadline to apply was noon Wednesday.
Johnson, who this month won the state House seat left by retiring state Rep. Mary Skinner, R-Yakima, has announced he will resign from the council Dec. 31.
Not since 1989, when Councilwoman Lynn Carmichael was forced to resign after she moved one block outside of her district, has there been a mid-term vacancy on the council.
Echoing the sentiment at City Hall, Mayor Dave Edler said Wednesday he was surprised but excited that so many people were interested in serving on the council.
Nevertheless, with such a high number of candidates, he says the council is now faced with an uncertain road map in the selection process. That's because there are few rules.
"We have a tough decision ahead of us," Edler said. "Many, if not most of them (the applicants), would make great council members."
The council will discuss the process in a closed-door executive session at the conclusion of Tuesday's regular business meeting.
Edler says the council is leaning toward a process in which the applications will be whittled down -- again, in executive session -- to four or five finalists.
From there, the road map is hazy. Edler says he foresees more discussion in executive session prior to the final vote on Johnson's successor, which must be performed publicly.
The council does not have a policy in the case of a 3-3 tie, but Edler said the possibility of a deadlock is remote given the large number of compromise candidates.
"There's got to be somebody in there that could at least get the majority of votes," he said.
The applicants (in the order received) are:
* Tim Price, a manager at Orchard Rite, a company that makes wind machines and other agricultural equipment.
* Dean Armitage, a retired accountant. He served on the Yakima County Fire District 12 (West Valley) Board of Commissioners for 15 years and the West Valley School Board for eight years. He is past president of Downtown Kiwanis and West Valley Parks and Recreation.
* Greg Bohn, an environmental specialist with the state Department of Ecology. He has twice run for Yakima City Council and is a former member and chair of the Community Review Board, as well as a member of the now-defunct Citizen Police Advisory Committee.
* Dennis Snook, a retired Seattle Fire Department battalion chief. He served eight years on the Ferry County Commission and has been a member of the state 9-1-1 Board to represent small counties in Eastern Washington.
* Paul George, a retired Yakima Herald-Republic sports editor and former member of the Yakima City Council (2001-05) who served a two-year stint as mayor. He is chair of the Yakima County Democratic Party.
* Travis Carr, an assistant manager at Tony's Big Cheese Pizza in Yakima.
* Maureen Adkison, president of the Yakima Regional Medical and Cardiac Center Board of Trustees and a member of the Yakima Parks Commission and the United Way Foundation. She is a founder of the Child Abuse and Neglect Coordinating Council of Yakima and was previously a member of the Yakima Tennis Club Board of Directors, serving as president in 1997. Adkison was also co-chair of Norm Johnson's city council campaign in 2003 and state Sen. Curtis King's campaigns in 2007 and 2008.
*Juven Garcia, a small business owner (Rejuvenated Copiers). He is president of the Yakima-Morelia Sister City Association and a member of the Yakima Performance Audit Task Force and Aquatic Center Task Force. He served in the Army for nine years.
*Angela Weeks, a marketing sales representative and former member of the Yakima Police Athletic League. Weeks is also a former member of the Sherwood (Ore.) City Council and was active in growth and planning issues there. She served on the Sherwood Planning Commission and the Police Activity League Board in Portland and Sherwood.
* Randall Leofsky, a designer builder and small businessman. He is past president of the Barge-Chestnut Neighborhood Association and a former member of the Yakima Historic Preservation Commission.
* Cecilia Vogt, a consultant for nonprofit organizations, businesses and individuals. She is chair of the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission and former executive director of the Yakima Greenway Foundation and the Yakima Valley American Red Cross. She is a board member of the William O. Douglas Trails Foundation and the Washington Wildlife and Recreation Coalition. Previously, she served on the Yakima Bike/Pedestrian Advisory Committee, the Cowiche Canyon Conservancy Board of Directors, the Washington Watershed Network Board of Directors and the Yakima Gateways Committee. A graduate of Leadership Yakima, a program run by the Greater Yakima Chamber of Commerce.
* Larry Hull, owner of the Larson Building and CEO of Megalodon LLC, a commercial and residential property company. He is a member of the Committee for Downtown Yakima and chair of the Yakima Parking Commission.
* John P. Shumaker, a chemical dependency counselor and art therapy coordinator at the James Oldham Treatment Center in Buena. He has worked with the Lifeteen Youth Group at St. Paul's Cathedral.
* Don Franklin, a retired Southern Pacific/Union Pacific machinist.
* Steve Gaulke, supervisor of mental health outreach services for Central Washington Comprehensive Mental Health. He is a longtime advocate for the homeless and a member of the Governor's State Advisory Council on Homelessness. He is a graduate of Leadership Yakima.
* Cesar Dominguez, pastor of the Franklin Hill Foursquare Church in Yakima. He is a former high school English teacher at Eisenhower and Wapato high schools, and a graduate of Leadership Yakima.
* Sharon Madson, a homemaker and former hair dresser. She has volunteered as a humanitarian specialist and an assistant girls camp director for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She is active in the Yakima Youth Symphony Orchestra and West Valley High School Band Booster Parents.
* Keith Hurley, a supervisor with the Yakima Regional Clean Air Authority. He has worked as a radiological control technician and safety officer for the U.S. military, and as a logistical management specialist and aviation supply officer for the Chinook Helicopter Company.
* Isidro Reynaga, owner of Royals Lounge in Yakima. An Army veteran, he has also worked in car sales, and as a bartender and club promotion manager.
* Arajean Johnson, a small business owner. She is active in the local PTA.
* Larry Ausink, a court clerk at the Yakima County Clerk's Office. He has worked as a paralegal and investigator for Velikanje, Moore & Shore Inc., Abeyta-Nelson, Tamaki & Associates, among others. He is past president and director of the Washington State Paralegal Association and past vice president of the National Federation of Paralegal Associations.
* Donald Crosslin, a supervisor and plant engineer at Seneca Foods in Yakima.
* T.J. Davis, a U.S. Postal Service shuttle carrier who ran for City Council in 2001.
* Mateo Arteaga, director of Educational Outreach Services at Central Washington University. He has served as president of Hispanic Academic Achievers Program and the Mount Adams Foundation.
*Doug Picatti, a businessman (Picatti Bros.) and incoming chairman of the Yakima Valley Visitors and Convention Bureau. He is a board member of Ready by Five, the local early learning initiative funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Yakima Basin Storage Alliance, the organization supporting the Black Rock reservoir project. He is a member of the Yakima Regional Hospital Legislative Committee. He is past chair of the Committee for Downtown Yakima and the Westside Merchants, and served on the board of the Greater Yakima Chamber of Commerce.
* Susan Whitman, a former member of the Yakima City Council (2003-07). She has served on the Police Athletic League's Youth Leadership Council, Airport Board, EMS and 9-1-1, Community Relations, Law & Justice Task Force, as well as many other committees for the city of Yakima. She is also a member of the Yakima Valley Council for the Blind.
* Sonia M. Rodriguez, an attorney and former board member of the YWCA. She owns and manages a law firm (Morales Rodriguez) and serves on the governing body for the Young Lawyers Division of the Washington State Bar Association. She has served on the Commission for Domestic Violence for the American Bar Association. She previously was a board member of the Washington State Hispanic Bar Association.
* Dave Ettl, a morning host and program manager at KIT-AM radio and a member of the Aquatic Center Task Force.
* David Smith, a maintenance supervisor at Stone Church.
Editor's note: This story has been appended to correct erroneous information that appeared in the originally published version.
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