Candidate filing period for Tiburon Town Council seat opens next week

Tiburon residents can declare their candidacy for an interim seat on the Town Council starting May 8.

The candidate filing period runs through June 2 for the special election, which will be held Aug. 29 to fill the vacancy created in January when Councilmember Noah Griffin stepped down for personal reasons.

The person elected to fill Griffin’s seat will serve the remainder of his term, through November 2024, and would then be eligible to run for a full four-year term on the board.

The council in March considered making a temporary appointment until the special election, but after interviewing six applicants decided they would rather leave the seat vacant until it is filled by voters and not give an appointee an incumbent’s advantage.

Three of those who previously applied — Planning Commissioner Kathleen Defever, Heritage and Arts Commissioner Nora Noguez and Parks, Open Space and Trails Commissioner Isaac Nikfar — have said they plan to run in the special election. All have previously run for the council.

A fourth, parks Commissioner Chuck Hornbrook, said last week he will not seek election. The final two, Diversity Inclusion Task Force member Karen Carrera and former Planning Commissioner Lou Weller, said at the time they were only seeking interim appointment and didn’t plan to run for election.

Council hopefuls must be 18 or older, registered to vote in Tiburon and will need to take out and file candidate papers at Town Hall.

For more information or to make an appointment to take out papers, contact Town Clerk Lea Dilena, the town’s election official, at 415-435-7377 or ldilena@townoftiburon.org.