The Richardson City Council has to fill a vacancy on the Council caused by the resignation of Council Member Dan Barrios. There were thirteen applications. On August 17, 2026, the Council reduced the applicant count by five based on their written applications and whatever Council Members could find on Facebook or Google or elsewhere online, without giving the applicants a chance to rebut or explain what Council Members found online about them.
The argument for doing this is that it leaves more time for Q&A with the remaining eight applicants. The argument against is that all applicants deserve a chance to speak to the Council in person. Otherwise, the Council might unwittingly cut some excellent applicants. That's the argument I presented in "Council Recap: Thirteen Good Men and Women". The majority of the Council didn't listen to me, so what's new?
In any case, here's the matrix of which candidates the Council selected for the next round. The eight applicants who received at least four votes will be interviewed on August 24, 2026.
| AO | KH | CD | JJ | DB | JC | AS | Yes votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Richard Roy Bell (Rick) | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | 7 |
| Jeffrey Alan Davis | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | 7 |
| Jeffrey David Griffin | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | 7 |
| Daniel Evan Burdette | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | 6 | |
| Jordan Raymond Noret | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | 6 | |
| Eric James Willadsen | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | 6 | |
| Lawrence Scott Ricamore | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | 5 | ||
| Genevra Elaine Thomas | Y | Y | Y | Y | 4 | |||
| Colin Lancaster Christ | Y | Y | Y | 3 | ||||
| Patrick Sean Murphy | Y | Y | Y | 3 | ||||
| Darrell Kirk Day | Y | Y | Y | 3 | ||||
| Madison Ann Blumenthal | Y | Y | 2 | |||||
| Alexis R Dryer | Y | Y | 2 |
So, who will survive the next cut, which will be after the applicant interviews on August 24, 2026? Here are the criteria and considerations Council Members discussed in evaluating the applicants. They didn't necessarily say how they would expand on these during the interviews.
Mayor Amir Omar talked about understanding why applicants want to serve and what they could bring to Council.
Mayor Pro Tem Ken Hutchenrider said he wanted to understand why they want to be on Council and what they want to accomplish.
Curtis Dorian did not articulate substantive selection criteria.
Jennifer Justice asked, "Have you participated in any sort of a Richardson program? Have you volunteered elsewhere in Richardson? And did you spend a significant amount of time and thought putting this application together?"
Dan Barrios said, "I did put a lot of weight into their involvement in the community, whether it was through programs or volunteering in other means, and also weight towards how much effort they put into answering the questions."
Joe Corcoran looked at community/nonprofit and City service, plus whether applicants intend to seek the seat themselves in 2027. "My personal preference is to choose someone just to serve the duration of the term, just to have a level playing field for the race in the future."
Arefin looked for "Demonstrated involvement in Richardson and an understanding of our community, whether through boards and commissions, neighborhood involvement, leadership programs, civic organizations, or other community service; professional and public service experience that could bring valuable knowledge and different perspectives to the Council, the ability to step into council role quickly, work collaboratively with Council and staff, and understand complex issues and make thoughtful and independent decisions for Richardson as a whole."
Based on that, your guess is as good as mine as to who will advance to the final three.
P.S. My congratulations to the Council for conducting this exercise entirely in the open, as transparency requires. I'm with Dan Barrios, who said, "As far as the executive session, I am strongly opposed to that... If we want to continue the spirit of transparency, I don't see how we can do this in executive session." But I don't think a majority of the Council agrees.
Quotes have been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.
"Applications judged
along with web's hearsay.
No chance to reply."
—h/t ChatGPT
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