The North Pole City Council chose two new members to fill vacant seats Monday after lightning round interviews with the seven applicants.
The addition of the new members mean North Pole voters have elected only half of the current city council through a typical election.
Two members, Chandra Clack and Ellen Glab, announced their resignations back-to-back in recent months for unrelated reasons, leaving the pair of empty seats that the council filled this week. Before that, current councilmember Anton Keller was brought on through a coin flip in November. He had applied for the seat that now-Mayor Larry Terch left behind in October due to his mayoral run.
The Canadian quarter tiebreaker came into play because Keller received the same number of council votes as his challenger, David Brandt.
After Monday night’s special meeting, though, Brandt will get a spot at the dais after all.
And although it didn’t rely on a heads or tails call this time, Brandt again found himself at the forefront of a competition that highlighted how the procedure can struggle to pick out winners.
North Pole code says victorious applicants for vacant seats must get four votes. But with only five voting members Monday – including four council members and the mayor – gaining enough favor was an uphill battle.
And Terch III, the mayor, said the council voting in two new members in one night might be a first.
“I mean, we are in, we are in new territory that I don’t think the City of North Pole has ever been in before,” he said.
In the series of secret ballot votes Monday, Brandt retained a 3-2 edge over his closest competitor, Perry Wally. But three votes didn’t meet the minimum, and that same advantage stuck as the council repeated the vote multiple times.
Eventually, Wally pulled his name, shifting enough votes over to Brandt. Wally suggested he’d run in this year’s municipal election instead.
“October’s just around the corner. There’s more seats open. And with that said, I withdraw my nomination,” he said.
The votes followed short interviews that had two standard questions and a handful of additional questions from council members.
Brandt told the council he was born and raised in North Pole. He praised the city’s public works department for having snow-plowing prowess, and floated the idea of lowering the city’s sales tax.
Brandt also mentioned that he’s spent time on the Fairbanks North Star Borough’s Planning Commission and that he closely tracks public meetings.
“I collect as much information as I can. Like I said, I go to as many community meetings as I possibly can on any range of subjects,” he said during his interview.
Self-described lifelong North Pole resident Jordan Schuster, who received enough votes in the initial round of the secret ballots, claimed the other vacant seat.
Schuster touted his background as a local business owner and experience as the president of the Interior Alaska Homebuilding Association, saying he wants to help the city with residential development.
“I think I have a – can collaborate with developers and builders. And I do have a lot of great existing relationships with people who build in the city,” he said.
Schuster and Brandt will be sworn in at the next council meeting, which is this coming Monday.