Controversy as Tacoma council narrows candidates to replace the late Catherine Ushka

Of the nearly two dozen hopefuls who applied for the vacant District 4 seat on the Tacoma City Council , one person missed the deadline. On Tuesday, local leaders suspended the rules to include the lone latecomer as a finalist.

The exception’s name? Rick Talbert, former member of the Tacoma City and Pierce County councils.

The District 4 seat was held by Council member Catherine Ushka from 2017 until her death on May 15. Twenty-three applicants hoped to fill her seat, including Talbert and two folks who live outside the district.

At Tuesday’s meeting, City Council members nominated finalists for the position. They were divided on whether to include Talbert on the list of contenders.

Deputy Mayor John Hines thought that the former council member should be in the running. He explained that Talbert intended to file before applications closed but had encountered “technical difficulties.”

“I think considering his length of service to the District 4, eight years serving on the council in that position plus eight more years on the County Council in that role, I think it’s more than — I’m more than willing to consider his application at this time,” Hines said.

Council member Olgy Diaz saw it differently.

She told her colleagues that in years past, she had thrice applied to be appointed to council. In each case, Diaz said, she did so on time.

Diaz acknowledged Talbert’s record of service but said including him would be “disrespectful” to the other applicants.

“If one person can’t figure it out, I don’t know that they’re prepared to be on this council,” she said. “There should have been more preparation there.”

Reached by phone Wednesday, Talbert told The News Tribune that he had issues getting the application form to load. He said he contacted the City Clerk’s Office on the morning it was due, but by the time he was able to submit, it was past the noon deadline.

According to the rules of procedure, if there are more than 10 contenders, council members are supposed to nominate “a number of applicants equal to 20 percent of the total applicant pool, rounded up.” In this case, it would have meant four finalists, the city clerk explained Tuesday.

Mayor Victoria Woodards asked council members to name their top five picks, ostensibly to make room for Talbert. The rules were officially suspended to allow that to happen.

Talbert received five votes: Woodards, Hines and Council members Sarah Rumbaugh, Kristina Walker and Joe Bushnell. Those five also voted in favor of pausing the rules to allow for consideration of a late submission.

Three leaders voted against bending that rule and did not include Talbert in their top five: Diaz and Council members Kiara Daniels and Jamika Scott.

When two applicants tied for the fifth slot, Woodards gave her colleagues a choice: Bump the number of finalists to six or keep it at four. Either way, with five votes, Talbert would have been in the running.

Daniels bristled at the idea of turning away the tied applicants, who had each received four votes.

“I think that if I were the two that were one vote away, and there was somebody that applied late that got in and I didn’t for the last spot of the two, I would be upset with that,” she said.

The six finalists for District 4 are:

1. Jasmine Brown

2. Silong Chhun

3. Justin Everman

4. Sandesh Sadalge

5. Stephen Wamback

6. Rick Talbert

Talbert said he heard from former constituents who wanted him to apply. He added that he had a conversation with the mayor, and that she encouraged him, too.

After speaking with his family and others in the community, Talbert decided to vie for the role: “I have no interest in running for the position when the term is up; I just ... thought it would be a good fit for the skill set that I have.”

Scott named District 4 applicant Sean Arent as one of her finalists. Arent told The News Tribune at Tuesday’s council meeting that the way he saw it, massaging the rules to include Talbert was unfair: “They put their thumb on the scale.”

Arent said that he was confused by the application process, too. He had to call the city a couple of times for guidance.

Asked Wednesday morning whether he believes that council would have suspended the rules if he had missed the deadline, Arent replied: “I’m certain that they wouldn’t have.

“Their reasoning was that Rick Talbert’s nearly [two] decades of service should grant him an exception,” Arent continued in a text message to The News Tribune. “On the flip side, you’d think that someone who has been in office for 16 years could figure out how to submit an application on time.”

Talbert believes that council should make its choice based on who is best suited for the role.

“It’s, I guess, understandable from somebody who didn’t get selected to go forward to question it, but I again think that there’s evidence, if you will, that I was having difficulty, and I had reached out,” he said. “So, I don’t think that that should disqualify anyone.”

During the July 9 City Council meeting, each of the six finalists will appear before city leaders for 15-minute interviews. A selection is expected to be made the following week, and that person will likely report to meetings starting July 23, per the city’s timeline.

The new City Council member’s term expires Dec. 31, 2025.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect Rick Talbert’s comments.