The Coronado City Council has a vacancy thanks to John Duncan’s mayoral victory, with an empty seat to be filled either through a special election or by appointment from the new council and mayor.
To fill open seats in the past, the city has held special elections since at least 1973, according to the Coronado Election Compendium dating back to 1966. City Council member Robin Goodenough resigned at the beginning of 1973, resulting in a special election being called to fill his vacant seat.
The most recent special election was in 2009 when Casey Tanaka won his race for mayor and resigned as a City Council member.
Barbara Denny was elected to complete the two last years of Tanaka’s term.
A special election would be similar to a regular council election, said the city’s communications officer, Andrea McCullough. Candidates would file and provide campaign statements as they normally do. The San Diego County Registrar of Voters would conduct the election, and registered voters in Coronado would select their candidate of choice.
The candidate with the highest number of votes would win.
Rules for filling open council seats are spelled out in California government code 36512(b): “If a vacancy occurs in an elective office provided for in this chapter, the council shall, within 60 days from the commencement of the vacancy, either fill the vacancy by appointment or call a special election to fill the vacancy.”
Special election or appointment
According to McCullough, in the past, a special election was required and would have been held to fill the vacancy. The provision in the city code to fill a vacancy in such a way was repealed in 2021. Now, the City Council can select either option — by appointment or special election.
If the council chooses to fill the seat by appointment, she said, the city code does not specify a procedure. However, municipal eligibility standards require an appointee to be a U.S. citizen and a resident of Coronado who is a registered voter in the city.
Council member Carrie Anne Downey said that filling the third vacant seat would be a three-step process.
First, the City Council would decide if they will fill this seat through a special election or by appointment.
The criteria could be as broad as anybody … They could put it out with no requirements except being a Coronado registered voter … Or, the criteria would have limits — whatever they might be.”
Council member Carrie Anne Downey
Second, the council members would choose the criteria of who they wanted to appoint.
“The criteria could be as broad as anybody,” Downey explained. “They could put it out with no requirements except being a Coronado registered voter … Or, the criteria would have limits — whatever they might be.”
She said the criteria could also just be the candidate that got the third highest amount of votes.
Third, they would vote to appoint whoever that person would be in whatever process they decide to go through.
The only rule the council would have to follow is that the person who fills that spot can’t be somebody who is otherwise precluded from serving by the city code. That means that current council member Mike Donovan wouldn’t be able to come back as a council member because he has already served two consecutive terms.
However, it does mean that current Mayor Richard Bailey could come back as a council member since his role as mayor doesn’t stop him from going back to City Council, and it means that current council member Casey Tanaka could also come back since he has only served one term as a council member.
The council would have to make this choice within 60 days of the vacancy.
Decision on Dec. 17
For this year’s open seat, the decision is scheduled during the Dec. 17 City Council meeting.
In an interview with The Coronado News, Duncan did not comment on whether he favors appointment or special election. He said he does not have any predetermined candidates in mind.
Mark Fleming, who is currently leading in the polls to fill one of the two City Council seats, said he’s leaning towards an appointment.
“The cost to the city for doing a special election is something that I hope we can avoid,” Fleming said. “As for someone to fill John Duncan’s vacant seat, I don’t have any specific person in mind at this point. I’m trying to keep my mind open to possibilities and to see who may have interest in it.”
Downey declined to comment on the issue.
As of Nov. 15, Fleming was leading with 3,433 votes at 22.55%.
Amy Steward was in second place with 3,010 votes at 19.77%.
Laura Wilkinson Sinton was less than 70 votes behind in a close third with 2,941 total votes at 19.31%.
