Mike Farmer Sworn In As Sunnyside City Council Member

City Clerk Fails To Fully Understand Constitutional Principles and Common Sense

Mike Farmer was sworn in as a Sunnyside City Council Member on Wednesday night prior to a Special Meeting to deal with the 2010 budget.

Under the Constitutional principles that guide our great nation, we have elected representatives to serve the people.  Our state has laws that recognize these fundamentals as well.

Sometimes, for various reasons, an elected office will become vacant.  When this happens, individuals are appointed to serve until such time as an election is held.  After the election, then the winner gets sworn into office.  Sounds like a simple concept right?

Our state law stipulates that appointed City Council Members shall be replaced by elected candidates IMMEDIATELY after election results are certified.  For some reason, the Sunnyside City Clerk, Deborah Estrada does not seem to fully grasp this concept.

Ms. Estrada was quoted in the Yakima Herald as saying that Mr. Farmer would be sworn in at a future date, not fully grasping what IMMEDIATELY means.  Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed, and Mr. Farmer was sworn in last night.

She was also quoted in the Yakima Herald (see the story here) as saying that Theresa Hancock and Nick Paulakis do not need to be sworn in again because they have already taken the oath of office.  She is half right.  Theresa Hancock is elected, so she should not need to take the oath again.  However, Nick Paulakis was appointed.

Now that Mr. Paulakis, like Mike Farmer, has been elected, he should also take the oath of office.  This is where common sense comes into play.  We do not have to go very far to find a precedent for this.  In Yakima, Maureen Adkison was appointed to the City Council, and recently was sworn in after winning election.  See the KNDO story here.

By having Mr. Paulakis take the oath after the election, the Sunnyside City Council will be officially recognizing that elections mean something.  He no longer is serving as an appointee, but as someone who has won an election.  The authority of the people to elect their representatives should be acknowledged by a simple taking of the oath.

I was unable to attend the Special Meeting, so I did not get to ask any City Council Members for their thoughts on the matter.  However, I would like to state my opinion here, and encourage them to remedy this situation ASAP.

While it is a good first step to swear in Mike Farmer as an election winner, Mr. Paulakis should be treated in the same manner.