Greg Millerd won’t need to attend this week’s special city council meeting in the flesh to still be considered as a possible appointee to the vacant Central Ward council seat.
The candidates for the empty post will be interviewed by the city council at a special public meeting at 6 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 15 at city hall.
The Bainbridge city council decided to allow Millerd to attend the Thursday meeting — where six council hopefuls will be interviewed for the empty position by the council — by a telephone conference call.
The other candidates for the open position are Michael R. Scott, Joe Levan, Gary Pettersen, Monica Aufrecht and John Green.
Millerd, who said he had a long-planned family commitment on Thursday, had offered to answer the council’s questions at the council meeting Tuesday.
Instead, council members said they would let Millerd call in and answer the council’s questions via a conference call during the already planned meeting.
Potential volunteers for the council seat were told in advance about the interview process and the special meeting set for Jan. 15. Millerd admitted he missed that information in the application packet.
“I apologize for my oversight,” Millerd told the council.
“I goofed,” he said, but added that a phone-in interview might not work after all on Thursday if the council expected him to dial in for the entire meeting, which may last more than two hours.
Millerd said his ability to hear the whole council meeting over the phone could be problematic because he might not have reliable cell phone service.
Faced with the prospect of having to back out as a candidate, Millerd said instead he would talk with City Manager Doug Schulze Wednesday to sort out the details of how he would call in during the interview session.
The council is expected to go into a closed-door executive session to discuss the candidates after the interview process during Thursday’s special meeting, then return to open session to vote on the appointment. No public comment will be taken during the meeting.
The new appointee will serve in the Central Ward seat last held by David Ward.
Ward stepped down as part of a settlement agreement that ended a public records lawsuit in Kitsap County Superior Court that was filed against Ward, Councilman Steve Bonkowski and former councilwoman Debbi Lester after the trio were discovered using their personal email accounts to conduct city business, but had failed to turn those public records over to the city. Bonkowski and Ward also admitted destroying public records.
The new council member will be sworn into office at the council meeting Tuesday, Jan. 20 and will serve in the Central Ward seat until the results of the Nov. 3 General Election are certified.
