Until tonight, Bob Scales was a candidate for mayor.
Now he’s pondering a bid for the newly-empowered City Council.
“I never say never,” Scales, a former councilman, said on Tuesday night, shortly after early election results showed over 70 percent of island voters want to swap their elected mayor for a manager hired by the council.
“I never planned to run for council again. I’ll just relax for a week or so before I make a decision.”
Mayor
Darlene Kordonowy remains undecided on whether she’ll seek a third
term.
Kordonowy said in early February that she’d make her decision by March 31. But today – her self-imposed deadline day – Kordonowy said she has not yet “come to terms.”
“I’ve been pushing myself to do it, but I’m not quite ready to make a decision,” she said. “I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking and talking to people about this.”
Former city councilman Bob Scales, a critic of Kordonowy, remains the only candidate to have formally announced a bid for mayor.
Voters will decide on May 19 whether to abolish the elected mayor’s office and replace it with a manager position under the control of the City Council. If the measure passes, Kordonowy would become an eighth councilor until her mayoral term expires at the end of the year.
Municipal government expert Carl Neu will discuss the differences between mayor- and manager-led cities at the Bainbridge High School Commons on March 31.
Bainbridge voters will decide on May 19 whether to swap the city’s elected mayor position for a city manager hired by the City Council.
Neu has worked with over 600 local and state government entities since 1976. As a consultant, he has focused on strategic leadership-building, policy development, long-range planning and elected official teamwork skills.
Neu’s visit is sponsored by the Bainbridge Resources Group. His discussion at BHS begins at 7 p.m.
A number of people have contacted me about the cost the city of Bainbridge will bear for the May 19 change-of-government ballot measure.
In one of my stories last week, City Administrator Mark Dombroski predicted that the estimated $75,000 cost of the election would be split between the city and the Bainbridge Island School District, which is hoping to pass a capital bond on May 19.
Some readers have cited a lower-cost estimate noted by a city councilwoman that puts the city’s costs at around $15,000. The lower cost is based on the assumption that the ballot will be split three or four ways with measures from other jurisdictions.
Dombroski’s cost estimate is closer to the mark, according to the Kitsap County Elections Manager Dolores Gilmore. She estimated this morning that the two-item Bainbridge ballot will cost the city about $35,000.
Gilmore said May 19 Central and South Kitsap fire district measures will not be included on the Bainbridge ballot because Bainbride voters are not eligible to vote in those elections.
The City Council set May 19 as the date for a special election that will decide whether Bainbridge will retain an elected mayor as its leader or opt for a manager hired by the City Council.
The state recently altered elections rules to allow change-of-government votes on months other than November. Petitioners had collected over 1,000 signatures from Bainbridge voters to earn the measure’s place on a ballot.
The council on Wednesday also approved up to $75,000 to pay for the special election. The cost will likely be split with the Bainbridge School District, which is seeking approval of a capital bond also on May 19th.
If approved, Mayor Darlene Kordonowy would become an eighth city councilor until her mayoral term expires at the end of the year. City Administrator Mark Dombroski would then take the city’s helm as the new city manager.
Former city councilman Bob Scales is the only candidate currently running for mayor. Kordonowy said today that she remains undecided about seeking reelection. She will make her decision before the May election, she said.
