Colfax Council appoints candidates, cancels election for city seats

The Colfax City Council approved a resolution Aug. 22 to cancel its General Election to fill two council seats and the treasurer position. California Elections Code Section 10229 allows the city to cancel the election due to the number of filed candidates equaling the number of open seats. The elections code provides the city with the authority to either move forward with the election or appoint candidates to serve as if they were elected. According to the staff report, the candidate filing period closed Aug. 9 and there was one qualified candidate for each position, incumbents Councilmember Caroline McCully, Councilmember Larry Hillberg and City Treasurer Tim Ryan. The council received two comments, which confirmed concern over canceling the election, but noted it could motivate people to run if they are unhappy with the process or the seat holder. "I think that we're in a really unfortunate situation and I'm very upset that we're put in this situation that we don't have the interest from people to have another person contending for a seat on council," Councilmember Trinity Burruss said. "I know that it would have meant a lot, especially to the two people who are serving very well right now, to have the opportunity to go through an election and actually be elected. And I think that that is kind of being stolen from them." McCully, Hillberg, Mayor Kim Douglass and Mayor Pro Tem Sean Lomen noted they followed due diligence in their outreach to solicit interest. "I think we really did everything we can to gain interest and get other people to engage, and if they don't want to or they're happy with what's going on, in my opinion, that is them making a vote," McCully stated. Hillberg added, "I don't think it's appropriate to go against what we voted on before and the ordinances and the procedures that we set up to go out again and reach for more candidates. … But I think we did follow due diligence and I think we should just carry forward with not having an election." Hillberg also noted the appointments will allow the council to start thinking long term and get a head start on things they might not have been able to address until after the election in November. The council approved the resolution in a unanimous vote, which means there will be no ballot items for the city of Colfax in the General Election. According to the staff report, Colfax is estimated to save $2,500 by not proceeding with the election.