NAMPA, Idaho — Nampa City Council faces frustration and a stalemate over the process to appoint the city's next mayor.
Councilmembers are debating whether to choose from a small field of candidates or open the process to more names before their June 17 deadline.
WATCH Nampa councilmembers open up about the emotional process of choosing the city’s next mayor
The Nampa City Council is working through how to choose the city's next mayor following an emotional public meeting Monday night.
At the center of the stalemate is whether the council should move forward with a smaller field of candidates already taking shape or allow councilmembers to bring forward more names before settling on a process.
RELATED | No decision, rising frustration: Nampa council divided on mayoral process
Under Idaho law, the council is responsible for appointing the next mayor. The appointee will serve until the next general city election. For now, Council President David Bills will continue serving as interim mayor.
Nampa City Council District 2 Representative Natalie Jangula said uncertainty has been part of the frustration from the start.
"I feel like the communication piece hasn't been fully transparent. I feel like we've gone into this and not really known what our process was gonna be," Jangula said.
Nampa City Council District 6 Representative Sebastian Griffin weighed the pros and cons of opening up the field.
"I think in strict terms of transparency, the open application process would likely be the most transparent, but it's also going to be the most divisive and longest, and that's exactly what we want to avoid right now," explained Griffin.
I noted to Griffin that tragically, Rick would have been the best person to guide the city through a situation like this.
"I started my comments with just that. How would Rick navigate this? What would Rick want us to go through? What would Rick want for the community to go through?" asked Griffin.
Jangula said her frustration is less about any specific name and more about the council not yet finding a way to move forward together.
"I've been really wanting to go forward with just bringing it before council, working together, unifying, but that just hasn't been able to be the thing that we've done, so it's been pretty frustrating," added Jangula.
The council gave itself until June 17 to make an appointment. If that date arrives before a decision is made, members have the option to extend the deadline.
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