The path to a seat on the King City City Council has been a long and winding road for Steve Gearhart, who finally joined the council May 13 after vying for the seat for the past several months.
Gearhart came in fourth in the November election for three open seats won by Mayor Rachel Kazmierski and Councilors Jessica Braverman and Vince Arditi; soon after, he applied for an open seat on the council, and dozens of people rallied to support his appointment outside City Hall before a special council meeting to appoint someone in late December. The council appointed John Hartman instead.
Following the resignation of former mayor Marc Manelis in late March and with another council seat open to appointment, Gearhart applied again, and the council voted unanimously at its May 13 meeting to appoint him to the seat after Sandra Cunningham, the only other applicant, withdrew from the process.
(Cunningham filed a writ in Washington County Circuit Court alleging the council had not followed the city Code in appointing Hartman, although a judge ruled in the city’s favor in May.)
Following a round of applause from the audience, City Manager Mike Weston swore in Gearhart. He has lived in King City since 2015 and served on many civic volunteer committees and held other volunteer positions before moving to King City. He noted in his application that listed a career in corporate sales, distribution, manufacturing and project management, “Most of my career has included numerous management positions which required advanced communication skills and a positive attitude bringing out the best in employees.”
With Gearhart’s appointment bringing the council back up to seven members, they wasted no time in getting down to business. The City Council had discussed the controversial purchase of a 1.6-acre piece of property at the end of 131st Street over the past several meetings but deferred voting on it. Weston explained that the city has been negotiating with Washington County for the past eight or nine years to purchase the property, which has now been declared surplus. A resolution would have allowed Weston to execute a sale agreement with Washington County to purchase the land for $70,000.
At the March 19 council meeting, Weston said, “This is a strategic piece that is part of our master plan and one additional piece the city would like to acquire.” Six people who spoke during Open Forum at that meeting were against the purchase, citing access issues, its location in a floodplain, impact on wildlife, development expenses and potential forced annexation, and one person was in favor of the purchase; the council tabled the resolution.
At the April 16 council meeting, with many in attendance holding “NO FORCED ANNEXATIONS” signs, a dozen people spoke, with the vast majority opposed to the purchase. Councilors voted again to table the resolution until they had passed a resolution stating the city would not force annexation on property owners.
At the May 13 special meeting, about 18 people spoke during Open Forum, with two in favor of the purchase and the remainder opposed or speaking on other issues. After discussing the resolution, the council voted 4-3 against the purchase, with Arditi, Braverman, Gearhart and Kazmierski voting no, and Hartman and Councilors Denny Gelfand and Jan Tysoe voting yes.
A parallel resolution reappearing at recent council meetings dealt with island annexation. Kazmierski said of the proposed island annexation resolution at the May 21 meeting, “I don’t think this resolution appropriately represents the motion approved by the City Council last week…”
Braverman, agreed, repeating her motion from the May 13 meeting that “there is no forced annexation, no forced island annexation, and it has to be voluntary and that the citizens must agree to be annexed.”
(Island annexation is a process whereby a city or municipality takes over land that is surrounded by its boundaries but is not part of the city.)
The council voted 7-0 to add a resolution opposed to island annexation to a future agenda.
CORRECTION
An article about new King City Mayor Rachel Kazmierski in the May issue of Tigard Life incorrectly stated that City Councilor Jan Tysoe cast a no vote on the council’s appointment of Kazmierski for mayor at the April 16 meeting. Kazmierski won the seat 5 to 1, which included Tysoe’s affirmative vote. Tigard Life regrets the error.
