By Talaina Kor The Holbrook City Council met on Feb. 26 with the task of appointing a council member to fill the vacancy left by Mark Jackson who resigned earlier in the year. The two individuals to be considered were Kip Woolford and Kirby Myers, who had each submitted a letter of interest. The council interviewed both Woolford and Myers with each asked several questions, the first being why they would like to serve on the council. Woolford attended telephonically, making the ability to hear his responses difficult. He noted that he was born and raised in Holbrook and when employed by the Petrified Forest National Park, saw the impact of tourism on the community and the value of partnerships. He also noted the attributes of being associated with the park and as a gateway to the White Mountains. “I hope that given an opportunity that I can help bring some awareness and more local involvement.” Myers noted that he considers himself a problem solver and someone that can work to help people bridge differences. “I feel that it’s possible to just assist in the conversations and encourage people in the town, other residents, to participate.” When asked what he believed are the major challenges facing the City of Holbrook, Woolford replied, “Currently, the pandemic. That’s really had an impact on our hospitality, and our mom and pop businesses downtown. “Hopefully we can get tourism back. I know firsthand as an Airbnb host how (the pandemic) impacts our tourism through this region, especially with the foreigners,” he said, adding that he did believe it will come back. When asked the same question, Myers stated the major challenges are the trickling population associated with the closure of the plant and everything being shut down due to the pandemic, “Everything being locked down from the kids’ lives in the schools and people dealing with depression and all the various aspects.” To come back from that Myers noted “there needs to be a vision of the future.” When asked where he would like to see the City of Holbrook in the future, Woolford noted that in the last five to 10 years not a lot of progress has been made to beautify the town. “Cleaning up our abandoned buildings and vacant lots, making it more appealing to people when they are traveling through.” Myers noted the importance of “getting the city open, kids back in school and businesses fully open again and make improvements.” When asked what he hoped to achieve on the city council, Woolford noted that he wants to facilitate involvement and that he can be persuasive to people. “I would really like to see the public get more involved.” Myers noted that he can contribute to projects, look for solutions and bring something new to the city as well since he was predominately from outside the city for most of his life. After the interview the council cast their ballots which resulted in a tie, with Vice Mayor Francie Payne and council members Adam Marsh and Earl Kester voting in favor of Woolford, and Mayor Merrill Young and council members Tim Dixon and Mike Nelson in favor of Myers. “How do we solve a tie, folks?” asked Mayor Young. He then went on to ask City Manager Ted Soltis what the charter says in relation to the situation, to which Soltis stated that the charter did not address the matter. After a moment of silent contemplation from the council, Mayor Young stated “I think actually the fairest way to do it is by chance and we’ll flip a coin.” What followed was council members jokingly suggesting options such as flipping a card and arm wrestling. But in regards to a serious solution, the council members agreed that a coin flip was acceptable. Councilman Marsh suggested that they give each candidate a few more minutes to make their case, and then flip a coin if it was still undecided. Mayor Young agreed and asked the candidates one more question in relation to economic development with the suggestion being that the answer to the question may sway a vote one way or the other. During this discussion, Vice Mayor Payne received a text message from an online observer watching the meeting via Facebook Live informing the council on the actual process in the event of a tie that was stated within the city charter. “I received a text with a copy of our charter,” stated Payne. “In case of a tie vote, we are to go to a special election.” Soltis then got up from his desk to retrieve a copy of the charter and confirmed that was the rule during which time it was noted that a special election would be a very costly solution. While the council debated on this new information, Councilman Marsh asked for confirmation that both applicants were fully in compliance with the requirements to run for office, which is that each person that submits a letter of intent must have resided in Holbrook for at least two years. “To my knowledge,” was Mayor Young’s reply. “Can we ask them?” requested Marsh. Mayor Young then asked each candidate if there was anything that would disqualify them from serving on the council, to which Woolford indicated there was not but Myers stated he was just short of the two-year residency requirement. Despite that statement Young replied, “In all fairness, what I’m going to do is I am going to allow Mr. Myers to answer the last question, and then we will re-vote. In the event that it is a tie again, then according to our charter we have to have a special election.” After hearing both Woolford’s and Myers’ take on economic development, Marsh stated he did not understand the point of a re-vote and potential special election if one of the candidates was not eligible, to which Councilman Kester agreed. Soltis stated that if Myers was selected, he could just take office May 20, by which time Myers would have reached two-year residency, which was in contradiction with what the charter requires. Regardless, the council re-voted and this time Young changed his vote and chose Woolford to fill the position avoiding the need for continued discussion. “Congratulations Mr. Woolford, or should I say Councilman Woolford,” stated Mayor Young. “Thank you, I look forward to working with you all,” replied Woolford. Woolford will be sworn in during the next meeting on March 11.