Pocatello mayor puts forward nominee for vacant city council seat
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POCATELLO – The mayor has put forward his nomination for the newest member of the city council.
After evaluating the applicants looking to fill the vacant seat on the Pocatello City Council, Mayor Brian Blad has decided to recommend Dakota Bates for the seat. If the rest of the council confirms Bates, one of his goals would be to increase trust between the community and its city government.
“I just want to see the relationship between the citizens of Pocatello and their government (improve). I (don’t) want to sit on the sidelines, and I (don’t) want to be a complainer. I (want) to try and make a difference,” Bates said.
City council seat #4 was left vacant when former city councilor Josh Mansfield resigned on May 1, in order to pursue law school at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. In total, the mayor reviewed 17 applications for the seat and personally interviewed six applicants.
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Bates spoke to EastIdahoNews.com, recounting some of the things he talked about in his interview with the mayor.
“I wasn’t trying to sell myself to the mayor. All I told him was, ‘I want to be an advocate for Pocatello. I want to be a positive force for good and try to be transparent about the decisions that I make,” Bates said.
Dakota Bates, the clinic manager of Hannah’s Place, a pediatric physical, occupational, and speech therapy clinic, doesn’t consider himself the typical applicant for the city council.
“I’m very much just an average citizen of Pocatello. I work hard to raise my kids, and I felt like that’s a perspective that’s needed on the council,” Bates said.
During his time canvassing for the Washington Elementary Advocates, Bates said that a number of people shared their thoughts on the city government with him. Washington Elementary Advocates was a citizens group advocating Pocatello/Chubbuck School District 25 not close Washington Elementary School.
“They don’t trust government at all levels, but especially the county, the city, the school district. On a local level, people didn’t have a feeling of trust that the city would deliver on its promises,” Bates said.
Bates wants to work to repair that relationship.
“And I have never felt that way towards the city … but as I met with people, and you hear time after time at different houses, different people across town, (it gave me) a real desire on my part to change that, to try and build some bridges in the community,” Bates said.
The city council will vote on whether or not to confirm Bates’ nomination at its upcoming regular city council meeting on Thursday. If accepted, Bates would officially take his seat that day, and would fulfill the remainder of the term through December 2025.