ENCINITAS — As Encinitas prepares to seat the city’s 17th City Council, all attention is turned to the questions of who will replace Tasha Boerner Horvath on the council and how will they be placed.
Boerner Horvath was elected to the State Assembly and leaves with two years remaining on her term.
The City Council will provide at least part of the answer at Wednesday’s meeting, a day after Jody Hubbard, Joe Mosca and Catherine Blakespear are sworn into office.
At that time, the City Council will determine if they will host a special election or appoint Boerner Horvath’s replacement. All signs point to the council appointing her successor, so the remaining question is who will emerge as candidates.
In 2016, 16 people applied for the vacancy created when Blakespear was elected mayor. The council appointed Mosca, a parks and recreation commissioner at the time, to fill the final two years of her council post.
This year, a couple of names have emerged as council hopefuls: Planning Commissioner Kevin Doyle said that he would be putting his name forward, as has longtime Leucadia 101 board member William Morrison. Morrison applied for Blakespear’s vacancy in 2016.
City Clerk Kathy Hollywood said that the council would begin accepting applications for the vacancy Dec. 13 if it chooses to go that route, and if history is any indication the application window would remain open until the first week of January.
Because Boerner Horvath was elected in an at-large election in 2016, the council could select the appointment from anywhere in the city, not just Boerner Horvath’s new electoral district.
But with all of the other districts having a representative, the council could choose to select a person from within Boerner Horvath’s district — essentially South Leucadia and Old Encinitas — to avoid potential electoral conflict.
