YACOLT — The Yacolt City Council recently appointed Vince Myers as interim mayor, to fill a vacancy left after former Mayor Jeff Carothers resigned due to health issues earlier this summer.
Myers said that the city council had a lot of discretion to decide how to undertake the process of filling the open mayor position. Initially, the council extended the opportunity to any Yacolt citizen to apply and interview before the council.
Two people applied, but both withdrew during the interview process, Myers said.
The council reopened the position for public applications a second time, and initially no citizens expressed interest. Myers applied for consideration, and before the process closed two other residents also applied. After the three applications were received, the council members “voted on the one they felt would be the best fit for the position,” Myers said.
Myers said that the council could have simply appointed a member of the council to fill the mayoral vacancy, but instead the members felt that it was better to “give any interested party the opportunity.”
Myers had been on the city council since 2011, and assumed the role of interim mayor on Aug. 21. The position is a two-year appointment, and in the 2018 election cycle, Myers said that any Yacolt resident interested in the position could run.
According to Myers, he decided to apply for the interim mayor position out of a feeling of civic duty. “I simply care about my town,” Myers said.
“Any new job has got a steep learning curve,” Myers said. But he complimented the quality of his staff and said that they will help make the transition as smooth as possible.
At the current time, Myers said he has “no plans at this point” to run for the mayor position in the 2018 election.
Having recently assumed the interim mayor position, Myers said that his plans for initiatives or projects in Yacolt are “under development.”
