Chapter 2.30 — APPOINTMENT PROCESS TO FILL VACANCIES ON THE CITY COUNCIL

The purpose of this chapter is to implement the requirement of city of Sunnyvale Charter Section 604(e) by establishing a public process for appointment to fill vacancies on the city council when appointment is authorized by the City Charter. (Ord. 3144-19 § 1; Ord. 3198-22 § 1)

This chapter applies to appointments permitted under Charter Section 606 to fill vacancies on the city council when the city council has elected to fill such vacancy by appointment, and is intended to be consistent with Sunnyvale Charter Section 606. To the extent there is any conflict between the Charter and this chapter, the terms of the Charter shall govern. (Ord. 3144-19 § 1; Ord. 3198-22 § 1)

The following process shall be used to fill a city council vacancy by appointment:

(a) Application Period and Requirements. At the meeting at which the city council determines to fill a vacancy by appointment, it shall establish application requirements and set an application period for receiving applications and interviewing candidates seeking appointment to the vacant seat. Applications shall require each candidate for mayor to submit signatures supporting the candidacy from at least twenty registered voters in the city and each council district candidate to submit signatures supporting the candidacy from at least twenty registered voters in the applicable district. The city clerk shall deem any application that does not include the requisite number of qualified signatures incomplete. Candidates who fail to submit complete applications by the deadline shall be deemed ineligible for consideration.

(b) Public Notice of Application Period. The city clerk shall post the application period and application on the city's website and may also notify the public of the vacancy by other methods in accordance with then applicable practices commonly used by the city for providing broad public notice.

(c) Public Applications. The city clerk shall distribute the candidates' applications to the city council and shall make the statements available to the public.

(d) Public Interviews. The city council shall hold an open and public meeting to interview all eligible candidates. The interview process shall be structured to allow the public to ask questions or provide comment before the interviews.

(e) Public Hearing on Interviews. The city council shall hold a public hearing to receive public comment after the interviews and prior to making the appointment.

(f) Voting on Appointment. Following the public hearing, the city council shall vote on the appointment as follows:

(1) The mayor shall announce each candidate's name. City council will vote on each

candidate, and each councilmember may vote in support of more than one candidate.

(2) The candidate receiving the most affirmative votes and at least four affirmative votes will be appointed. If no candidate receives the most votes and at least four affirmative votes, council may continue with subsequent motions, which may include, but are not limited to, completing the process described in subsection (f)(1) again, or other motions at the council's discretion. For example, in the event of a tie between candidates receiving the most affirmative votes, a motion could be made for a vote only on the tied candidates.

(3) At any point after the first round of voting on the entire candidate pool as provided in subsection (f)(1), four or more councilmembers may vote to initiate the following impasse-breaker process:

(i) Using the most recent vote on the entire candidate pool (the "qualifying vote"), the city clerk will prepare a drawing with the names of all candidates who received the most and second most affirmative votes. The drawing shall be proportional based on the number of affirmative votes the candidate received in the qualifying vote. For example, in the case of a qualifying vote consisting of eight candidates, if candidate A receives two votes, candidate B receives three votes, candidate C receives three votes and the remaining candidates receive zero votes, the drawing will be between candidates A, B and C, with candidate A receiving two entries in the drawing and candidates B and C each receiving three entries in the drawing.

(ii) The mayor will ask the city attorney to pull a name from the city clerk's drawing.

(iii) If the candidate drawn by the city attorney received four or more votes in the
qualifying vote, that person shall be declared appointed to fill the vacancy.

(iv) If the candidate drawn by the city attorney received fewer than four votes in the
qualifying vote, the mayor shall call for a vote to confirm the candidate as the
appointee. If the candidate does not receive four or more confirming votes, the
candidate is not appointed. The city attorney will then draw a new name and the
process described in this section may continue until a candidate is declared
appointed, all names have been drawn, or a motion to continue appointment
efforts using alternate provisions of this section is made and approved by a
majority of members, whichever occurs first.

(4) It is the intent of the city council that the provisions of this chapter be construed to
allow the council every opportunity to make an appointment up to the deadline for
such action provided in Charter Section 606.

(5) Any appointment requires at least four affirmative votes pursuant to Charter Section
606(c).

(Ord. 3144-19 § 1; Ord. 3198-22 § 1)