Ryan Hagen, Staff Writer
Posted: 01/10/2011 05:16:35 PM PST

GRAND TERRACE – A fifth member could join the City Council this evening, preventing what many say would otherwise be a 2-2 deadlock for the next two years.

But first, current members will interview the 14 applicants for the position and agree on a future colleague.

The field includes familiar faces from the 2010 election – council candidates Sylvia Robles and Tom Schwab and mayoral candidate Doug Wilson – as well former Councilman Herman Hilkey.

Most of the remaining applicants are relative newcomers to the city’s political scene, including many who have not spoken at a City Council meeting in at least the last year, according to the minutes of those meetings.

“There are some very good candidates, and I can honestly say there’s a bunch of them I don’t even know, so I can tell you they’re not a part of a voting bloc of mine,” Mayor Walt Stanckiewitz said.

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