Adrianna Garibay will be the newest member of the Centralia City Council.
Late Tuesday afternoon, the council held a special meeting to select a candidate to fill an at-large position on the council left vacant last month after Leah Daarud resigned.
A total of seven candidates submitted applications and answered the council’s questions, including Garibay, Russell Barr, Jeremy Corwin, Johnny Dunnagan, Amber Ferrano, Steven Hubbard and Candice Sanders.
Each candidate was asked the same six questions by the council and given 15 minutes to answer. Following all seven interviews, councilors briefly spoke about which candidates they liked the most and moved on to the voting process.
Garibay and Corwin were the two finalists, with multiple council members offering support for both. The nomination and voting process then began in a “sudden death” style, meaning the first nominee to get a majority vote of the council would become the new councilor.
After being nominated first followed by a 5-0 vote, with Councilor Max Vogt abstaining, Garibay was chosen for the position.
Having originally immigrated from Michoacàn, Mexico, in 1998, Garibay settled in Centralia. She currently manages GT Roofing in Centralia and works for St. Joseph Church in Chehalis.
She said she never expected to be selected but applied because she wants to represent the Hispanic community.
“I hope to help the Hispanic community, to cross the bridge, to be more of a part of the city, because we are part of the city,” Garibay said.
She will be sworn in before the next Centralia City Council meeting scheduled for May 23. She plans to run for her position in this year’s election.
Should Garibay win in November, she will continue serving on the council past the end of Daarud’s term, which ends Dec. 31.
Following the selection process, Centralia Mayor Kelly Smith Johnston told the other candidates not to be discouraged and suggested they run in the upcoming election, as not only will Garibay’s position be on the ballot, but there will be several other positions as well.
“I will echo what several (council members) have said up here, for those of you who weren’t selected, filing week is next week. We encourage all of you to file and run because we’d like to see you up here joining us,” Smith Johnston said.
Candidate filing week is from May 15 to May 19. Those wishing to run for government positions in the next election can do so in a variety of ways.
In Lewis County, candidates should file with the Lewis County Auditor’s Office, either online, in person or by mail.
Candidates seeking to file online in Lewis County can do so by going to https://elections.lewiscountywa.gov and selecting “Online Candidate Filing.” Those filing online must pay their filing fee online with a credit card.
Those wishing to file in person can do so at the Lewis County Auditor’s Office from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. during filing week. Candidates will be required to file using the online filing system at a customer kiosk. Assistance will be provided as needed.
For those filing by mail, the Lewis County Elections mailing address is P.O. Box 29, 351 NW North St., Chehalis, WA 98532. Mailed candidate declarations must be received by 4:30 p.m. on May 19.
To see which offices are open for candidate filing, current incumbents and filing fees, go to https://elections.lewiscountywa.gov/candidate-filing-information/ and select “Offices Open for Election.”
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Editor’s note: A previous article published by the Chronicle listed the candidate’s name as Elba Garibay. She goes by her middle name, Adrianna.
