TAMPA -- City council will interview 23 people Tuesday morning, and choose one to join them.
Council is holding a special meeting at 9:00 a.m. (April 5) to hear from those candidates for the open seat in District 3. 25 people applied, but two applications got thrown out because they came from non-city reisdents.
Each candidate will get two minutes to make their "elevator pitch" to council before the vote.
More than half of the applicants are women, applying to join a currently all-male council with one member (Orlando Gudes) embroiled in a sexual harassment complaint. One of those women, Kella McCaskill, appeared before council last week, urging Gudes to stay on the job.
The field includes business people, community activists, and attorneys, as well as a clinical nutrition specialist and a retired Air Force officer. Applicants include former elected officials, such as onetime councilman Thomas Scott and former Hillsborough school board member Tamara Shamburger. One candidate, engineer and business owner Ron Fair, describes himself as the "exact opposite of John Dingfelder."
Dingfelder resigned from the council last month over a public records lawsuit, creating the opening. The winner will full out the rest of his term.
Another candidate, Connie Gage, has served as mayor... HONORARY mayor of Brandon.
Here are the 23 applicants from which Council will choose its next member:
·Sonja Brookins
·Connie Burton, minority and housing activist
·James Chittenden, business owner, supporter of transit
·Thomas Connelly, retired Air Force officer
·Robert “Pete” Edwards
·Ron Fair
·Thomas Feaster, real estate
·Meredith Freeman, attorney
·Connie Gage
·Natasha Goodley
·D.C. Goutoufas
·Alison Hewitt
·Parker Homans
·Amanda Hurtak
·Julie Jenkins
·Kella McCaskill
·Patrick Murphy, attorney
·Thomas Scott, former Tampa City Council member and Hillsborough commissioner, pastor
·Tamara Shamburger, former Hillsborough School Board member
·Vibha Shevade
·Kendall Trosky
·Carroll "Carrie" West, local LGBTQ activist
Photo: Getty Images