Wednesday, July 28, 2004

Hall might resign from City Council

Longtime councilman offered job with Ketchum Fire Department

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By GREGORY FOLEY
Express Staff Writer

Ketchum City Council President Randy Hall might be forced to resign from his elected office within the next week.

Randy Hall, Ketchum City Council president  Express photo by Willy Cook

Hall, who last November was re-elected to serve a four-year term on the City Council, on Friday, July 23, was offered a full-time engineer-paramedic position with the Ketchum Fire Department.

If Hall accepts the job, he will have to resign from his elected office pursuant to an Idaho law that regards City Council positions and city-employee positions as incompatible offices.

"It is my understanding that I will have to resign from the City Council," Hall said Monday. "Obviously, it’s a huge decision."

Hall said he intended to think about a formal offer from the city until today, when he would likely issue a binding response to Mayor Ed Simon.

Hall said deciding if he will resign from his elected office would not be easy.

"The public elected me, hired me and entrusted me to serve," he said. "If I accept the job, I’m still going to be serving the public, just in a different capacity."

Simon said Tuesday afternoon that he had not received a response from Hall to the job offer.

Hall has served on the Ketchum City Council since May 1998. In January, he was sworn in to serve a four-year term that will not expire until the end of 2007.

However, Hall in recent months has actively been pursuing a career as a paramedic. In June, he completed a rigorous paramedic-certification program that required months of study and active training.

Hall currently holds a paid, part-time, on-call position with the Ketchum Fire Department, as well as a one-day-per-week paramedic position in the Magic Valley.

If Hall accepts the Ketchum paramedic job—as some city officials expect—his resignation from the council could have a profound impact on future legislation.

Hall has been a diligent council member known for doing his homework and taking tough stances, often in opposition to Simon.

This year, he has been a driving force behind getting the council and city staff to address a long list of priority issues identified at City Hall.

If Hall resigns, Idaho law calls for the mayor to appoint a replacement with the "consent" of the remaining council members.

The replacement council member would serve until the next general city election, which is scheduled for November 2005. If elected to the council at that time, he or she would then serve the balance of Hall’s term, until the end of 2007, with the possibility of running for re-election that year.

Councilwoman Christina Potters and Councilman Baird Gourlay will also see their seats go up for re-election in November 2005.

One candidate for Hall’s seat could be Ketchum attorney Larry Young, who placed third behind Hall and Councilwoman Terry Tracy in the November 2003 City Council election. Hall garnered 306 votes, while Young earned 225.

Young served as mayor of Ketchum from January 1988 to January 1992. He also served twice on the Ketchum City Council, from January 1986 to January 1988 and from January 1992 to November 1992, when he was recalled along with Ed Simon and Pat Ritzau, both also on the council at the time.

Simon declined to indicate how he would proceed with nominating a replacement for Hall if he resigned, noting that he did not want to comment on the matter until a formal decision to hire Hall is made.

The job offered to Hall is scheduled to start on Aug. 3.

Hall said that if he accepts the city job, he would like to remain on the council through mid-August, when the city will have completed its review of the draft 2004-2005 fiscal year budget.

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