The council approved a special meeting, which will be open to the public, on May 23 at 4 p.m. to vet 23 applicants who have applied for the position and then will narrow the pool to five.
Each applicant will be given three minutes to make a statement, followed by questions from the council.
Following at 6 p.m., councilors will vote on James’s replacement, after a question and answer period between the council and the remaining candidates.
The selected applicant will serve until November 2024.
Applicants provided such information as their occupation, education, length of time they’ve lived in San Clemente, and in-depth explanations of why they think they should be selected.
Many listed reasons why they love San Clemente, but councilors said they are looking for someone who can make a difference.
“If you spend your five minutes talking about ‘I believe in parks and I want to do everything great for the city’ and tell us nothing about the core issues that are before the city council, then it’s going to be hard to get some of our votes,” said Councilman Victor Cabral during the meeting. “You’ve got to distinguish yourself and tell us what you’re going to do about those core issues.”
One applicant, Donna Vidrine, has run for election to the city council twice before and was the runner-up in the November 2022 election. Multiple speakers said during the meeting’s public comments she deserved the position outright.
“I support Donna because she was the next highest vote-getter,” said Pastor Juli Patten of San Clemente Christ Lutheran Church where Vidrine attends. “You have no females on the board. You need to have someone to balance out the masculinity up there and share the women’s point of view.”
The council chose to fill the seat by such an appointment process, rather than having a special election, which would have cost the city around $300,000, per an estimate from the Orange County Registrar of Voters.
