One of the Morgan Hill City Council’s first major decisions after the Nov. 8 election could be how to go about replacing one of their colleagues who is likely to resign in early 2017.
Councilman Gordon Siebert, who was first elected to the five-member body in 2010, has sold his home in the Jackson Oaks neighborhood. He and his wife Esther are planning to move to Nashville, Tenn., where they have family including a young grandson.
Siebert said they expect to move out of state after the end of 2016, but they don’t have a specific, determined timeline. The couple has spent several weeks agonizing over their future plans, and at one point contemplated staying in the Bay Area after they move out of their Morgan Hill home. There is even a “slight chance” they could stay local, but “roughly in the last month” they have set their sights on Nashville.
“The house has sold, but…we don’t know when it’s going to close,” Siebert said. “I’ve made arrangements to stay in town after that (before moving out of state) so that I can continue to serve” on the council until the relocation.
Factoring in the Sieberts’ decision is Esther’s health, which has been complicated “for many years” by a chronic illness, Gordon Siebert said. She has “excellent” doctors in the Bay Area, and that’s why the couple considered moving up the Peninsula.
“Her health is very important to me,” Siebert said.
Siebert told his colleagues on the council over the last month or so that he was selling his home, where he and his family have lived for nine years, but his plans after that were undetermined.
If Siebert resigns from the council, the remaining four councilmembers—including the mayor—will have 60 days to appoint a replacement or call a special election, according to Morgan Hill City Clerk Irma Torrez. If the council calls a special election, it “shall be held on the next regularly established election date not less than 114 days from the call of the special election,” the state government code reads.
In either case, the new councilmember would serve the remainder of Siebert’s four-year term, which ends in 2018. At that point the seat would be subject to a regular election.
A special, standalone election for a candidate to finish Siebert’s current term would cost the city about $351,000, Torrez said.
The other councilmembers confirmed Siebert has told them in private that he has been planning to sell his home and is likely to move out of Morgan Hill. Three of these officials—Mayor Steve Tate, as well as Councilmembers Larry Carr and Marilyn Librers—are up for re-election Nov. 8 and might not be seated on the dais when it’s time to decide how to replace Siebert.
Tate said with the timing of Siebert’s plans coming within the last month or so, there “was never any kind of possibility” the city could have added his seat to the ballot for the Nov. 8 election.
“I think we’ve got to see what the results of this (Nov. 8) election are, and what the options are, formally, at the time he announces to the council and the city he is leaving,” Tate said.
Joseph Carrillo and Kirk Bertolet are running against Tate in the Nov. 8 election. The elected mayor serves a two-year term.
One possibility if the council decides to appoint a replacement without a popular vote of the citizens, suggested by Siebert, would be to appoint the candidate who finishes third in the Nov. 8 council election. The top two vote recipients will win the two available seats on the council in that race.
The appointment process could also include a call for applications from interested candidates, who would then be interviewed in a future public council meeting. This is what the Morgan Hill Unified School District Board of Trustees tried to do when former Trustee Amy Porter Jensen resigned from that board in November 2015. The remaining six trustees interviewed seven candidates, but couldn’t reach a majority decision on a finalist. They ended up ordering a special election in June 2016, which Tom Arnett won.
The Santa Clara Valley Water District appointed John Varela to replace former Director Dennis Kennedy, who resigned from that board due to health complications in November 2015. The remaining board members interviewed five applicants before deciding on Varela, who is reaching the end of Kennedy’s former term with the Nov. 8 election. Varela is running against Tom Cruz in that race.
“I would hate for the city to have to go to the expense of having a special election,” Siebert added.
Morgan Hill resident John Mattes, who has been a supporter of Siebert’s in the past, said he doesn’t think it’s fair for the councilman to leave Morgan Hill halfway through his term. He said the voters should be allowed to elect his replacement.
“Why is he going to wait less than two months (after the Nov. 8 election) and then resign?” Mattes wondered.
Carr and Librers, the two incumbents up for re-election Nov. 8, agreed the council needs to get through the upcoming balloting before focusing on replacing Siebert when and if he announces his resignation.
“If he leaves, it’s a huge loss to the council because he is a wealth of knowledge,” Librers said, pointing to Siebert’s former employment—decades ago—in Morgan Hill’s public works and finance departments.
Carr said he supports the Siebert family’s efforts to stay happy and healthy, even if that takes the councilmember away from Morgan Hill. He added he doesn’t think there is a “dire need” for the council to decide how to replace Siebert yet, because he hasn’t formally announced or even settled on his potential resignation.
Running against Carr and Librers in the Nov. 8 election are Mario Banuelos, Armando Benavides and Rene Spring.
Mayor Pro Temp Rich Constantine, who is not up for re-election until 2018, said Siebert told him at the Sept. 21 council meeting that he was “97 percent sure he is moving” out of Morgan Hill.
“It’s hard to make plans when he’s not completely sure,” Constantine said. “I would hope he could finish out his term—that would be fair for everyone—but he also has to think about his family and do what’s best for him.”
