Schons, Jacob & Dimmers are latest to apply
By Seth Schmidt
With three new candidates to consider for a vacant seat on the Tracy City Council, a committee has been formed to interview applicants and make an appointment recommendation to the full council.
Councilmen Dave Tiegs and Kou Thao were appointed to interview candidates, and have a recommendation ready for the council’s next meeting on Feb. 12.
The new applicants are: Jeri Schons, director of nursing at Sanford Tracy; Nathan Jacob, Tracy small business owner; and Anthony Dimmers, a regional IT specialist for the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture.
There are also six other candidates who applied for the council vacancy that Thao was appointed fill on Jan. 8. Those candidates are Rhonda Fredericks, Rosemary Martin, Kurt Enderson, James Green, Valerie Danielson, and Jodi Severson. The council has indicated that the earlier candidates will also be considered.
Monday’s decision to interview candidates is a change from the process used on Jan. 8, when the council appointed Thao without interviewing the applicants.
Thao’s appointment filled a vacancy created by Bill Chukuske’s resignation in November. The second vacancy was created by the January resignation of Mayor Steve Ferrazzano.
On Jan. 8, the council discussed filling Ferrazzano’s seat at the Monday, Jan. 22 meeting. However, councilman Tony Peterson suggested that the urgency to fill Ferrazzano’s seat wasn’t as great as it had been with the first vacancy, because the council had then been reduced to a three-member body.
With Thao’s appointment and council membership increased to four, Peterson felt that time could be taken to “get to know” all the candidates before making the appointment to fill Ferrazzano’s old seat.
For more on this article, see this week’s Headlight-Herald.