Are YOU Our Next City Councilor?

As many of you know, my election to the office of Mayor will open up my City Council seat for appointment. In a nutshell, the process is as follows: Vancouver residents apply for the position through December 18. In January, City Council will select "semi-finalists" for interview, and then from that group, select finalists. From that small group, sitting council members will vote on an appoint a new colleague.

By law, any appointed council member must run for the office in the next general election. So that person must campaign for and the office, and run against any challengers, in November 2010.

Then, the winner of that election must run again in the 2011 general election, when that council seat's term expires.

It'll make for a very long campaign "season" for the person selected, but I can say from experience that if you would like to serve your community in this way, all of the effort is worth it.

I (and I'm sure the City Council, too) would be absolutely elated to have hundreds of applications for the vacant council seat.

This is a real opportunity for citizens in our community that have an interest in serving (and working hard) on behalf of our citizens.

If you think this opportunity might be for you, please take a moment to visit the city's website and review the application .

Forward the application to friends, business colleagues, neighbors….anybody who you think may have an interest.

Applications are due by 5pm on Friday, December 18.

Thank you!