Dear Mayor Wolosin and City Council,
During the last nine days I served on the City Council, had two councilmembers provided the courtesy of making themselves available for a hearing on the motion for reconsideration, and had I retained a vote whom should represent District 5, I want to make it unequivocally clear to the City Council, I would have voted for former Mayor Catherine Carlton to finish my term.
Why should the City Council appoint former Mayor Carlton?
After speaking to residents in District 5, it is clear to me the threshold question before the City Council is not whom this City Council would prefer to serve with. Respectfully no member of the current Council is serving a term actually elected by a District 5 voter. As a result the City Council should discard their personal preference, and rather make the decision based solely on the threshold question, which candidate is best equipped to represent District 5 based on experience and knowledge.
Former Mayor Carlton was elected by voters in District 5 not once, but twice. Should one break down her elections by precincts, they would discover she did very well in District 5 precincts in both of her elections.She served 8 years on City Council, and prior to that was a Parks and Rec Commissioner. Moreover she is a past president of the Las Lomitas School District Foundation. Former Mayor Carlton is well versed in all the applicable laws relating to holding City Council office, and already possess many of the stakeholder contacts necessary to be effective on the dias. Moreover, her independence on the Council will not be questioned, as she is not associated with any perceived groupings within the current Council. Given the upcoming Council agenda relating to the Housing Element as well as SRI, she will be able to quickly begin contributing to the City Council deliberations..
Whether former Carlton is appointed to the two year seat, or whether she is appointed until a special election takes place, she is the right choice for the appointment based on her experience and knowledge, irrespective of Council politics.
Finally, if I had been afforded the courtesy of the reconsideration hearing and retained the right to vote in this matter, and had I not been able to convince this Council to appoint former Mayor Carlton, my secondary support would have gone to Sally Coles appointment, based on her experience and knowledge from commission work and committee work in the City.
I look forward to seeing members from this pool of candidates for appointment, run for City Council in the future in a more comprehensive election process. It was an impressive group and I am very grateful for their time.
With best regards,
Ray Mueller
