New Mayor for WDM

You probably know by now that our former Mayor, Eugene Meyer, resigned in early January to serve the entire state as the newly appointed Public Safety Director. This is an exciting opportunity for Mayor Meyer and though he will be missed, we wish him the very best. What does this mean for West Des Moines?

Currently, the City Council plans to appoint an individual to the office of Mayor until our next general election in November 2007. You may have seen the application for Appointment to Mayor on the front page of our City website. This application is open to all residents for submittal as a candidate for Mayoral appointment. The application asks for information such as:

• length of residence in West Des Moines;
• any previous Board Membership positions;
• specific skills and experiences for the office; and
• reasons you would like to be appointed Mayor.

The timeline for this process is as follows:

January 15th – City Council approved a Consent Agenda item formally approving intent to appoint person to fill Mayoral vacancy.

January 16th – Applications expressing interest in being considered for appointment to Mayoral position made available in the City Clerk’s office and on the WDM website.

January 19th – Publication of Office Notice of Intent to fill vacancy by appointment.

January 26th – Noon – Deadline for Applications of interest due back to City Clerk’s office.

January 30 and/or February 1 – City Council interviews of interested applicants.

February 1st – City Council appointment of Mayor.

February 2nd – Swearing in of new Mayor.

To view the application, you can visit http://www.wdm-ia.com/userdocs/forms/Appointment%20-%20MayorwithTimeline.pdf

This is an interesting process I hope our residents make an effort to follow. No matter how long an interim mayor serves, he or she will still dedicate much time and energy to public service.