The City of Stockton City Council voted to appoint Dan Wright to the District 2 seat at a special meeting on Jan. 6, 2015, adopting a resolution that made the appointment effective immediately and set the term to expire Dec. 31, 2016.

Council members interviewed five applicants during the meeting before voting: Randy Hatch, Jeff Hislop, Peter Viri, Reverend Dwight Williams and Dan Wright. Each candidate answered a common set of questions prepared by the city clerk and supplied follow-up answers as council members asked for them. After the interviews the council ranked candidates and the clerk tallied the ballots; the council then moved to adopt the resolution to appoint Wright. The final vote on the resolution was recorded as 6-0 in favor.

Why it matters: the appointment fills a midterm vacancy so Council District 2 has a seated representative while the city continues to implement recovery and public-safety initiatives begun after Stockton’s bankruptcy. Candidates and council members focused their interviews on public safety, jobs/economic development and fiscal stability — recurring priorities for the council.

Interview highlights: applicants emphasized similar themes but proposed different emphases and backgrounds. Randy Hatch, a former planning commissioner and city staff executive, stressed neighborhood engagement, simplifying development processes and encouraging living-wage jobs through streamlined permitting. Jeff Hislop, a former law-enforcement trainer and community leader, emphasized public safety and downtown revitalization. Peter Viri, a local attorney active on the charter review committee, said he would press for stronger auditing oversight and community pride. Reverend Dwight Williams framed his candidacy around community engagement, neighborhood outreach and support for the Office of Violence Prevention. Dan Wright, a longtime Stockton Unified administrator and elementary-school principal, highlighted maintaining fiscal stability while pursuing public-safety and workforce-development strategies; he told the council he wants long-term leadership to continue Stockton’s recovery.

Council process and vote: the council followed the appointment procedure it adopted in September 2014 and a related council policy (Council Policy 100-2) for filling midterm vacancies. After the clerk collected ranked ballots the council confirmed the candidate with the highest total and then voted to adopt a resolution appointing Dan Wright. The resolution passed by a 6-0 recorded vote; the appointment is effective Jan. 6, 2015, and expires Dec. 31, 2016.

Council discussion and context: Mayor Anthony Silva said he was “not overly comfortable with this process” in remarks earlier in the evening, noting he would prefer a method that relied more directly on voters but saying he would respect the process adopted by the council. Council members pressing candidates asked for concrete policies for problem neighborhoods (Kelly Drive and Fox Creek were cited by multiple applicants) and for steps to keep the city fiscally secure as it continued to emerge from bankruptcy.

Action taken: the council adopted a resolution appointing Dan Wright to the District 2 council seat; the motion passed 6-0.

Looking ahead: Wright joins the council immediately and will participate in the council’s regular meetings and committees through 2016. Council members repeatedly returned to public-safety strategies and workforce development during the interview hour, signaling those issues will be priorities for the new-council cohort.