At its May 18 meeting, the City Council discussed the process and next steps to fill the vacancy left by Joel Wachs.

Wachs resigned from his seat, Position No. 4, effective May 6 due to health issues. He was appointed after a vacancy procedure in January to fill the seat of Tana Senn, who left the Council to focus on state issues.

Eleven Islanders applied for the vacancy at the time. The Council selected Wachs after a few rounds of voting. The runner-up was Terry Pottmeyer, followed by Steve Marshall and Wendy Weiker.

On Monday, the Council took an informal vote, which passed 4-1, to appoint Pottmeyer as a “caretaker” until the November general election.

Councilmember Debbie Bertlin said she liked this “clean and expedient solution,” and that Pottmeyer “would do an outstanding job for a short period of time.”

Mayor Bruce Bassett said that he talked to Pottmeyer, the 2011 Mercer Island Citizen of the Year and former CEO of Eastside nonprofit Friends of Youth, and she is interested in the position.

“I look forward to the opportunity to serve. It’s an exciting time for our community, with a lot of decisions to be made in the next six months,” Pottmeyer said. “Nothing has changed from my interest in January.”

Bassett said he also reached out to Senn, who is currently serving in the State Legislature, to see if she could fill the seat again, but she declined. Other suggestions included appointing a previous Councilmember, or starting the vacancy process from scratch.

Bassett said that he would have suggested elevating a City Council candidate running unopposed to the seat a little early, but when filing for the November election concluded on Friday, May 15, all five races were contested.

Deputy Mayor Dan Grausz was absent for the vote. Councilmember Mike Cero voted no, citing a need for an open public process.

Under Washington state law, the Council must appoint a qualified person to fill the vacant position within 90 days, though the law does not specify a procedure for selecting a person to fill the vacancy. It also means that the seat cannot remain empty until November – another option explored by the Council and city attorney.

In her application for the Council vacancy in January, Pottmeyer said she would prioritize downtown development, transportation issues and sustainable funding for city services, like Youth and Family Services (YFS).

She was president of the Mercer Island School Board for three years before resigning in 2000, and reinvigorated the YFS Foundation, helped form the Band Boosters and chaired the Mercerversary 50 Committee in 2010, according to her application.

Pottmeyer currently sits on the Board of Directors for the Mercer Island Center for the Arts (MICA), but said she put in a notice to resign if appointed to the City Council.

The public will have a few weeks to comment on this appointment process before it comes back to the Council on June 1.