Mayor Wolosin and City Manager Murphy have been reaching out to the rest of the city council to schedule a special meeting to select the new D5 council member before Councilmember Mueller leaves office. 3 city council members have affirmed their availability and 2 have said that they cant participate. Which 2 councilmembers are unwilling to participate and why? Can the city council have a special session with just those 3 members so that Councilmember Mueller can participate in the nomination and selection of his successor?
Not only did the council not execute the process that they agreed to by selecting the replacement last Wednesday (12/21/22), they further reneged on their commitment to complete the process by the end of December as communicated to the candidates in the email from Judi Herren of Dec 20th. In that email, the following document was included (https://menlopark.gov/files/sharedassets/public/agendas-and-minutes/city-council/2022-meetings/agendas/20221221-city-council-special-agenda-packet.pdf#page=3) which stated on page D2.3:
"Should the City Council defer the appointment of a District 5 City Councilmember, by vote of the City Council, shall continue this agenda to a time and date certain. Potential meeting dates are:
• Thursday, December 22 at 6 p.m. (hybrid)
• Friday, December 23 at 6 p.m. (virtual only)
• Monday, December 26 at 6 p.m. (virtual only)
• Tuesday, December 27 at 6 p.m. (virtual only)"
Not including Councilmember Mueller in the selection of his successor is an insult to him, his years of service, and most importantly to all district 5 residents whose representative would be selected by no one elected to serve the district. All efforts should be taken to ensure Councilmember Mueller participates in this process.
