Metro paralegal Karen Starin administers the oath of office to new Metro Council President Carlotta Collette at the Oct. 28 council meeting. The Metro Council ended conjecture about who will lead the board for the rest of 2010, voting Thursday to appoint Carlotta Collette as the next council president.
Collette was deputy council president when term-limited Council President David Bragdon resigned in September to become New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's sustainability advisor. She was appointed acting council president after Bragdon's departure.
The appointment opened a 90 day window for the Metro Council to appoint a permanent replacement for Bragdon. With an urban growth boundary decision looming in December, there was some question of whether the board would decide to go forward with just six members. Some reports indicated the council was considering appointing the winner of the council president race in Tuesday's election to serve out the remainder of Bragdon's term.
But on Oct. 22, Councilor Rod Park put a resolution on the agenda to fill the vacancy. Collette was the only person to formally apply to become president.
The board voted 4-0 to appoint Collette. Councilor Carl Hosticka is out of the country; Collette abstained.
Collette said she's enjoyed taking on the region-wide role in her seven weeks as acting president, highlighting some of the ceremonial duties of the role, such as ribbon cuttings.
"It means people are celebrating opening a park or some new business in their community," she said. "I love celebrating all the successes in the region."
Before taking the council president's oath of office, Collette resigned from her District 2 seat. She was re-elected to the seat in the May primary and is scheduled to be sworn back in as a district councilor on Jan. 4.
By then, the board hopes to have concluded its discussions on the urban growth boundary, a decision that now appears likely to be made with a six-member council.
"This council has worked together on all of these issues for three years – some of my colleagues even longer," Collette said. "The sense is we really understand the issues, we've been steeped in them, we've talked to people in the region – we can make that decision. We're prepared to make those decisions."