TONIGHT: City Council Will Interview Candidates For Vacant Seat

Twenty people applied to fill the vacant Golden Valley City Council seat left by current councilmember Mike Freiberg, who was elected to serve as State Representative for District 45B.

Of the 20 applicants, over the last few weeks, the Golden Valley City Council narrowed the pool down to five people:

• Larry Fonnest
• Steve Schmidgall
• John Kluchka
• Brad Kadue
• Rich Baker

On Monday night, starting at 5:30, the councilmembers will interview each candidate in a meeting that's open to the public. Each interview will be 30 minutes long.

In addition to sending a resume, applicants were asked to fill out a City Council Appointment Interest form. In the form, councilmembers were looking for current or previous involvement in city government commissions or committees, along with any community involvement.

John Klucha and Steve Schmidgall both currently serve on the city's Planning Commission. Rich Baker is the city's Environmental Commission Chair and Brad Kadue serves on the city's Open Space and Recreation Commission. Larry Fonnest was a former DFL Senate District chair.

Councilmembers will vote to select a new member at the Jan. 15 City Council meeting. According to the City of Golden Valley's website, the selected candidate will be sworn in at that meeting and participate in the remainder of that meeting.

The new councilmember will serve on the council until Dec. 31, 2013.

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Residents can meet the candidates and listen to the interviews at the following times on Monday, Dec. 17:

• Larry Fonnest, 5:30 p.m.
• Steve Schmidgall, 6 p.m.
• John Kluchka, 6:30 p.m.
• Brad Kadue, 7:00 p.m.
• Rich Baker, 7:30 p.m.