Eight still in running for county council vacancy

By Oliver Lazenby

At a January 9 special meeting, the Whatcom County Council narrowed down a pool of 29 applicants to eight for the open county council seat. Among them; Timothy Ballew II, Natalie McClendon, Seth Fleetwood, Patricia Dunn, Alicia Rule, Cliff Langley, Pete Kremen and Carol Frazey. Rule is currently a Blaine City Council member.

Those eight will give a three-minute presentation to the council on Tuesday, January 16. On January 18, the council is expected to appoint one of the eight to the at large position.

The term runs until the November 2018 general election.

Todd Donovan resigned from the open position last November after being elected to the new District 2 seat. Voters approved new council districts in 2016.

At the special meeting, each current county council member was allowed to vote for three applicants. The council clerk tallied their votes and the top five – Ballew, McClendon, Fleetwood, Dunn and Rule – stayed in the running.

After the vote, each council member had the opportunity to nominate one additional person for the position. Tyler Bird nominated Pete Kremen, who wasn’t in the pool of original applicants but whom Bird said has agreed to accept the

nomination.

Todd Donovan nominated Carol Frazey and Barbara Brenner nominated Cliff Langley. The rest of the council declined to nominate anyone.

The original pool of applicants included two Blaine residents, Rule and Carolyn Anderson, a Blaine real estate agent.