In its first regular meeting of 2022, the Chelsea City Council discussed the interview process for the three residents who applied for the vacancy.
The person chosen will fill the remainder of the term left vacant when Jane Pacheco was elected mayor in November.
Eric Keaton, Kathryn Tinsley and Steven J. Wright applied for the vacancy and will be interviewed on Jan. 10 in alphabetical order. The special meeting will be held in person, but there will also be a virtual option for those who would like to listen in to the interviews.
The meeting will begin at 6 p.m. and each person will be interviewed for about a half hour with five minutes break between candidates.
To select the newest member, the six council members unanimously choose a ranked choice voting system https://www.rcvresources.org . That vote will take place at the start of the Jan. 18 regular meeting and the new city council member will be sworn-in at that meeting.
In other business, the City Council reappointed Stephanie Merkel to one of three open seats on the city’s Downtown Development Authority Board. Merkel, owner of Moran’s Consignments downtown, will serve a term that ends on Dec. 31, 2025.
The city’s annual visioning session will take place on Feb. 9 beginning at 6 p.m. in a venue to be determined. It will be held in person with a virtual option as well. Residents who would like to offer ideas as public input for agenda items for the visioning session are asked to send them to the City Council or city staff prior to the meeting.
At the request of city residents, the council unanimously approved 1-2 additional members at large to be included on the Community Public Safety Task Force. These city residents will join two City Council members, two members of the Chelsea Police Department, which includes the chief of police, one member of the Human Rights Commission, one Chelsea school district member, 1-2 members of the Chelsea business community, 1-2 members of the youth community and 1-2 members of the senior community.
Also unanimously adopted were on second reading – a zoning ordinance map amendment – and on first reading, an amendment to the city’s zoning ordinance that changes the language for multi-family dwellings located in the R3, DT, T-1 and T-2 districts.
The next regular City Council meeting will take place on Tuesday, Jan. 18 due to the MLK Holiday on Jan. 17.
If you would like to watch and listen to the full meeting, please go to the city’s website here, for the video recording produced by RK Studios.
