Former Elk Grove schools chief Robert Trigg said today he has accepted an invitation to serve an unfinished term on the Elk Grove City Council created when Councilman Gary Davis was sworn in as mayor in December.
Trigg told The Bee he was contacted late Wednesday by Mayor Gary Davis and agreed in that telephone call to accept the post.
The offer was extended after the council met and issued a last-ditch bid to break its repeated deadlocks on five of six candidates.
The solution to look outside the list of contenders was aimed at avoiding a costly special election in June.
So council members voted 3-1 to enlist Trigg.
Councilman Jim Cooper was opposed, noting that the decision came without public participation. "The public was excluded," Cooper said. "That's poor policy."
Trigg retired as superintendent of the Elk Grove Unified School District in 1995 after a career in education spanning 35 years. He is 78. He was not at the meeting.
Trigg said he expects to be sworn into office at the next council meeting in mid-February and to remain in the post until a candidate wins the seat in the 2014 election.
He said he saw the need for the city to avoid a costly special election as the reason for agreeing to step forward.
County officials have put the cost at upward of $550,000, paid for with the city's general fund money.
"Is it something I had planned or really wanted?" Trigg asked The Bee? "That wasn't the case.
"But I think if there is an opportunity to help in any way, I think I owe the community that."
Councilman Pat Hume proposed tapping Trigg on Wednesday night and won support from Mayor Davis and Councilman Steve Detrick.
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