Millbrae looks to fill vacant council seats

“You could start the application interview process and have a meeting and decide, ‘you know what, we don’t like any of the options or candidates, we’re going to call for a special election,’” City Attorney David Lim said. “Oct. 22 is when you turn into a pumpkin and you’ve got to do something.” 

Millbrae, bound by government code, differs from neighboring cities like San Mateo — voter-approved charter cities with greater control over a variety of local issues, including elections provisions — that have been able to fill council vacancies by appointment until an election is held. 

City staff are moving forward with setting up the 30-day application period, with an ending date to be determined, after the City Council certified recall results that showed former Councilmembers Maurice Goodman and Angelina Cahalan recalled by sweeping margins. 

Vice Mayor Gina Papan encouraged residents to go through the application process. 

“We want the public to see who you are. We want to hear from you, they want to hear from you, even though we may not make a full decision at that point in time, please take part in the process and tell people who you are,” she said. “Democracy is not a spectator sport.” 

The catalyst for the recall was tumultuous disagreement over the La Quinta Inn and Suites — Cahalan abstained and Goodman voted no on sending a September 2023 letter from the Millbrae City Council expressing concerns about the upcoming hotel purchase, which they didn’t sign. 

Recall supporters felt the decision was not representative of the community’s concerns around the purchase, including a loss of hotel revenue and public safety concerns. Elections results confirming residents’ dissatisfaction were certified Aug. 22 by the San Mateo County Elections Office. 

Now, Millbrae’s District 2 and 4 residents may not see another elected representative until 2026, when Goodman and Cahalan’s terms were set to expire. 

Residents at the special meeting expressed interest in holding appointments, rather than having their district seat remain vacant until next year. 

“The election doesn’t mean we get good councilmembers. Why don’t we try to appoint them?” resident Li Xi Huang said. 

Ray Louie, another Millbrae resident, encouraged fellow residents to apply and said the appointed councilmembers don’t need to be career politicians, but rather, invested and engaged community members. 

“You don’t have to be a politician. I think you have to be, I would say, a high-integrity person … and very transparent, fiscally responsible, knowing what’s coming into our pockets,” he said. “I also think that the most important thing is a person, whoever it may be, uses common sense.”

Note to readers: A previous version of this article listed Burlingame as a charter city. It is a general law city.