Centralia City Council changes up council application process after botched appointment
The Centralia City Council is starting from square one in its search for a new council member beginning with new criteria and procedure for appointing one.
The changes and discussion may also provide some hints as to what went wrong with a recent appointee who later saw his placement on the council revoked.
The Centralia City Council approved new requirements for those applying to become a member of the city council on Tuesday evening and also discussed a new timeline for accepting and vetting applicants for the vacant District 1 seat.
The changes to the application process include requiring continuous residency in Centralia city limits and new required application materials. The application portal for candidates to become the newest Centralia City Council member representing District 1 will open Wednesday and remain open for two weeks through Wednesday, April 29. The timeline for consideration and public interviews thereafter was left intentionally vague to allow flexibility on the city council's part.
A section labeled "background" on the evening's meeting agenda stated that the city's councilor application had "not been updated in many years."
The update appears to be prompted by recent events involving the failed appointment of Cameron Bluhm.
The only material change to the requirements for a valid applicant was a clarification that they have to have "continually" lived in the city limits for at least a year. Other changes involve new required application materials, including a cover letter and valid driver's license and significant changes to the job description.
The council approved the changes from a suggested version of the application document provided by city staff. Centralia City Manager Michael Thomas said City Clerk Kristan McConnell provided most of the suggested changes by researching applications from other nearby cities.
"She found multiple cities that have more robust application forms than we do," Thomas said. "And we decided to up our game a little bit."
Some of the added language requires applicants to sign off on a list of acknowledgments, including certifying that they answered the questions completely, that they have not omitted any information and they recognize that "false, inaccurate or misleading answers or statements" will disqualify them.
The council also selected four questions applicants will need to answer on the application before even being interviewed for the job. The questions require applicants to explain at a minimum their current or past civic involvement, their reason for wanting to serve on city council and any valuable experience or skills they bring to the table.
The council discussed implementing a new procedure to accept applicants that would require the council to consider applications in one meeting and wait to hold interviews for desired candidates until the following meeting to allow councilors and members of the public to review the applications received by the city. Unlike the changes to the application itself, the council did not vote on the new procedure, but instead only approved a timeline for receiving applications, leaving the consideration process open to change.
The council received brief comments from the public on the effort to change its councilor application process. Former Centralia City Council member Rebecca Staebler was the sole member of the public to comment and raise support for the change, recalling her time on the council and remembering the appointment process as overwhelming and often rushed.
"You could be appointing somebody for a quite lengthy period of time, and so I encourage taking that time," Staebler said.
The changes to the city council application process come roughly three weeks after the council rescinded the appointment of Bluhm without stating the reason publicly, just a week after initially appointing him but before he was sworn in.
Comments from Bluhm after the decision and some of the changes made to the application requirements suggest Bluhm's residency in the city and District 1 may have been in question.
The Centralia City Council now finds itself up against the clock for appointing a new member to the city council. According to state law, local governments must fill vacancies by appointment within 90 days of the seat vacancy. If the seat is not filled in that time, the right to fill the position passes to the Lewis County Board of Commissioners.
Former Centralia Mayor and City Councilor Norm Chapman resigned his seat on the council effective at the end of February, giving the council 90 days from March 1 to fill the position. As of the Tuesday, April 14, business meeting, nearly half of that 90-day appointment period had passed.
Copyright 2026 Tribune Content Agency. All Rights Reserved.