By Eric Mungenast | East Valley Tribune
After cutting the original list by 17, the Mesa City Council interviewed the four finalists to replace departed councilmember Dina Higgins as the city’s District 5 representative during a special meeting on Sept. 5.
The quartet of finalists — Debra Duvall, David Luna, Kathleen Rahn and Kevin Ruegg — were picked from a field of 21 candidates to complete the final 16 months of Higgins’ term. Higgins officially left office in August and cited the demands of her full-time job and frequent travel as reasons for her decision.
“It was difficult to reduce the list to the four we have in front of us,” said Mayor Scott Smith before the interviews began.
The process had the candidates answer questions posed to them individually by council members, with two minutes at the beginning and the end of the interview to outline their qualifications for the position.
