SANTA MARIA - Santa Maria city spokesperson Mark Van De Kamp shows the two-page official application for the vacant City Council seat now available online and at Santa Maria City Hall.
Qualified applicants must be at least 18 years old, a Santa Maria city resident and a registered voter.
"It ask for you address, your employment, experience, educational level", Van De Kamp says about the application, "it asks if you are employed by the city or not, kind of a lot standard things."
"Also, there will be up to 400 word long essay on why you want to be a council member, your personal background, your experience in government if its applicable", Van De Kamp adds.
The City of Santa Maria is taking applications to fill the empty seat caused by the election of council member Alice Patino as Mayor last November
The four-member City Council has since remained split on appointing someone to serve the remaining two years of the term.
Those who apply for the seat, which pays $1,050.00 a month, will be asked to make a short presentation and take questions from the current City Council at its next meeting on February 19th.
"The entire process is designed to be completely transparent", Van De Kamp says, "if the Council summons enough votes to appoint someone from that list (on Feb. 19) they will be sworn in and take their seat on the Council."
The deadline for turning in an application for the vacant City Council seat is next Tuesday, February 12 at 5:00pm at City Hall.
After February 16, the City of Santa Maria would be vulnerable to a lawsuit forcing it to hold a special election to fill the empty council seat because it failed to do so within 60 days of the November election.
