Meet the 13 Applicants for Wenatchee City Council Position
13 applicants have stepped up in hopes of filling the void left by outgoing Wenatchee City Councilmember Keith Huffaker.
Huffaker was a mainstay in local politics and one of two councilmembers with his particular duty set. He held the at-large "B" position. This means he represented the whole of the city, as opposed to a single district. Huffaker's counterpart was Linda Herald, who remains in the at-large "A" position.
After a dozen years in office, Huffaker opted for an early retirement, citing his desire to travel cross-country with wife Robin.
In uprooting from Wenatchee, he rendered himself ineligible for office. Now comes the task of finding his replacement. Anyone can throw their hat in the race - so long as they're a registered voter with one year or more of Wenatchee residency.
The application deadline elapsed on Friday. We're left with a pool of 13 candidates. They are:
- Catherine Houser
- Desiree Schmidt
- Jeffrey Sutton
- Sean Tepper
- David Andrews
- Devin Connell
- Joseph Gamboni
- Mayra Navarro Gomez
- Laura Jaecks
- Mistie Larch
- Mark Miller
- Richard Seale
- Juan Valle
This field is experientially diverse; it includes educators, engineers, nonprofiteers and small business owners. Some are managerial veterans well-practiced at corralling large numbers of people and resources, experience that would seem to come in handy in a place like City Hall that's relatively unpredictable and overrun with divergent personalities.
The council will conduct interviews on Jan. 9, then take a vote. The chosen candidate will be sworn in a few weeks thereafter and serve through the remainder of 2025. (Huffaker tendered his resignation mid-term. He still had a year to go in office.)
City Council Meeting to Elect New Mayor and Vice
Gallery Credit: Kolby Fedore
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