Council selects Eric Goettl as newest member

The City Council on Tuesday selected Eric Goettl to the panel in a 4-2 final vote over the other finalist, Planning & Zoning Commissioner Bill Robertson.

Goettl and Robertson emerged from a field of 19 applicants for the Council seat, during three rounds of voting.

Goettl will fill the remaining two years of Nancy Smith’s term. Last month, the Council selected Smith mayor of Maricopa.

Councilmembers each listed their top three candidates from the initial field, and Goettl, Robertson, Raymond Nieves and James Singleton each received three votes to move to the second round.

The four remaining candidates answered one question from each councilmember, and then the Council voted to narrow the race to two finalists.

After another round of questions, Goettl was their choice.

Goettl is heavily involved in the community, including Boy Scouts of America, For Our City Maricopa, Community Organizations Active in Disaster, Maricopa Police Department’s Citizen Advisory Committee and Community Emergency Response Team.

According to his Facebook page, Goettl is a seminary teacher at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and a certified veterinary technician at 1^st Pet Veterinary Centers.

A Maricopa resident since 2004, Goettl founded Maricopa Christian Alliance, which helped promote family-oriented legislation at the state level.

The married father of five identified his top three priorities for the city as public safety, economic development and transportation.

During the final round of questions, he laid out what being a member of City Council would mean to him.

“Having the opportunity to serve is a blessing, a privilege, so being able to do it well is what I really want to be able to do,” Goettl said in response to a question from Councilmember Amber Liermann. “When I found this seat was going to be open, I immediately made contact with each of you and, as you know, we sat, we visited, we talked. I interviewed you as you got a chance to know me.

“I have a journal of those notes I took, of the things that are very important to you and important to our city. That was not necessarily the beginning of my preparation but a very important step, being able to understand what it means to be behind this dais and being able to understand the pressures and responsibility of leading a city and leading it well.”