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. . I . . - Susan Keely, 766 Canyon Road, Redwood City, said she believed the Council had the right and the responsibility to appoint someone. She said based on the recent electîon with - its clear results, using those results would probably be the fairest way to make an appointment. Mrs. Keely spoke in favor of Ian Bain and described his integrity and hard work for the community. Mike Harris, 197 Wellesley Crescent, said he had been a candidate in the last election, and urged the Council to hold an election for the vacant seat. He said the results of the election, after the election of the top three vote getters, was too close to call. Mr. Harris said elections are hard on the candidates and expensive for the City, "but it might be the most equitable way to do it. Because the vote didn't tell you anything, they were just too darn close." Ed Bailey, 3215 Page Street, Redwood City, said the legal process will be difficult as it will require two elections in two years, which will be expensive for the candidates and the City. He said incumbents get reelected nine out of ten times in this community. Mr. Bailey said often times a new Member is elected based on the person he or she will replace. He said former Council Member Buchan was known as a person "who took care of the neighborhoods... who is a grass roots type person, the blue collar worker.... The liaison between the neighborhoods and the Council." Mr. Bailey asked the Council to take that into consideration when making its decision, and said "you might take a look at Redwood Shores, that's not a bad picture." - Nancy Pratt, 1405 Marshall Street, Redwood City, said the City had just had an election in November and the voters had spoken. She said she believed the right thing to do was to appoint someone. Ms. Pratt said the Charter was clear that the Council should appoint someone. Ms. Pratt said she was confident that if the Council chose to have an election, Ian Bain would win, as he was the first runner-up just 159 votes behind Mayor Howard in the November election. She said if others had been interested in the job during the last election, "where were they?" Ms. Pratt described her work with Ian Bain at Kainos and his patience and understanding, and his current work as a public relations executive with high tech companies. Ms. Pratt said Ian Bain is very familiar with the issues in Redwood City, and currently is the Chair of the Housing and Human Concerns Committee, on the Board of Friends of Literacy, Community Association of Rehabilitation and is a graduate of Leadership Redwood City. She urged the Council to appoint Ian Bain. Keith Bautista, 3010 Sterling Way, Redwood City, said as an engineer he tends to break things down into simple tasks to solve a problem. He said timeliness is extremely important because there are so many important issues in front of the Council it cannot afford to wait to have the full complement of Council Members to do its work. Mr. Bautista said the economics of the situation dictate an appointment right away. He said, 'The voting machines are barely cooled down from the last election, when all of the citizens of Redwood City expressed their preferences and opinions about who they felt were the most qualified to sit on the City Council based on their qualifications." Mr. - REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MINUTE BOOK NO. 56 FEBRUARY 9, 1998 MINUTES Page No. 259 PAGE 17