The Lompoc City Council will soon begin reviewing applications for the council seat vacated by now-mayor Bob Lingl.
The four-member council, including Mayor Lingl, couldn’t move past a 2-2 vote during the Dec. 2 meeting to appoint Anne Ruhge in the vacated spot—which has two years left in the term. They instead accepted applications from the public to fill the seat. Ruhge, who’s also a former council member, received the third most votes in the last election.
The council had two options: It could hold a special election or appoint someone to the seat. But the members were faced with a dilemma tied to either choice. The earliest an election can be held for the position is August 2015, and at a minimum cost of $72,000 if ballots were to be mailed. A polling election would cost up to $166,000.
All of the council members, including the mayor, agreed that waiting until August, coupled with the cost, made that choice an unreasonable one for a two-year term.
Mayor Lingl expressed concern that the public would have something negative to say about either decision by the council.
“No matter what we do, we’re going to be criticized,” he said at the meeting.
Lingl supported Ruhge in the vote, as did Councilmember DeWayne Holmdahl. Councilmember Victor Vega supported the application process. Councilmember Dirk Starbuck supported the application process, too, but was at odds over the choices to fill the seat.
“Personally, I think this is an illusion of democracy,” Starbuck said at the meeting.
Several members of the community who spoke before the council during public comments, including Lompoc resident Terry Hammons, supported Ruhge for the nomination.
Applications for the council seat were due by 5 p.m. on Dec. 9 and were set to be made viewable by the public shortly thereafter. The council has 60 days after the deadline to either find an appointee or decide to hold an election.
