Earling works with Cooper for quick transition
Published 4:39 pm Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Dave Earling has until next week to be ready to take office as the newly elected Edmonds mayor.
That’s because Earling has been elected to what appears on ballots as a “short and full term,” meaning that voters elected him for both the four-year term that starts in January and the last five weeks of the term that Gary Haakenson won in 2007 and Mike Cooper has held since Haakenson resigned.
Snohomish County Elections Manager Garth Fell says that Cooper or anyone elected to fill out a term can take the oath of office as soon as the county canvassing board certifies election results Nov. 29, at about 1:30 p.m.
So, instead of having two months to get ready to take office, Earling has had three weeks.
Earling led Cooper 65 percent to 35 percent in the Thursday vote count with only a fraction of a percent of Snohomish County votes left to count.
That has meant meeting with city department heads and working with his election opponent, incumbent Mayor Mike Cooper.
“Mayor Mike Cooper has been most gracious to allow a quick three-week transition,” Earling said Wednesday. “At this point I have had a group meeting with all of the directors and managers. In addition I have met for an hour with each of the directors and managers to understand the important issues in their departments.”
Earling said that he already has read policy changes that have evolved since his tenure with the City Council.
He also said that he would begin meeting with current and newly elected council members to understand their priorities.
“The goal of course is to get up to speed as quickly as possible and begin work on the many pressing challenges our city faces,” Earling said.
The Tuesday vote count shows Earling with 10,031 votes to 5,385 for Cooper, with 77 write-in votes and 951 blank ballots.
Another position that could change hands early is the Lynnwood City Council seat that Ed dos Remedios holds by appointment. Benjamin Goodwin, who is leading dos Remedios 50.5 percent to 49.1 percent, also could take office early.
Evan Smith can be reached at schsmith@frontier.com.
