EDMONDS — The City Council broke a deadlock on Tuesday to appoint Thomas Mesaros to a council vacancy.
The breakthrough came after 59 rounds of balloting. Until this week, a majority of the council was unable to get behind any of the more than a dozen applicants for the post.
“Thank you so much for your faith and trust in my abilities,” Mesaros told the council after the vote. “I hope I meet those expectations and fulfill them as equally as you have. I know this was a difficult choice.”
The vacancy opened at the beginning of the year following the resignation of Frank Yamamoto, who stepped down for health reasons.
Mesaros will serve in council’s Position 6 through the fall of 2015, when Yamamoto would have been up for re-election. The 65-year-old has worked in leadership roles with the Alford Group, a Seattle consulting firm that specializes in nonprofits.
Mesaros has lived in Edmonds since 1982. He had previously never served in elected office, nor had he appeared to be a front runner in early rounds of council balloting.
The earlier council rift left one half of the council supporting former City Councilman Steve Bernheim and the other Stephen Schroeder, a former assistant U.S. attorney with no experience in elected office.
Noah Haglund: 425-339-3465, nhaglund@heraldnet.com.
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