Gilbert appoints interim mayor, fills brief Town Council vacancy

PHOENIX – The town of Gilbert has its mayor for the rest of the year.

The Gilbert Town Council on Tuesday night voted to appoint Councilman/Vice Mayor Scott Anderson to the position left vacant when Mayor Jenn Daniels abruptly resigned a week earlier.

Anderson will serve as mayor until January, when the winner of the East Valley suburb’s upcoming runoff election will take office.

He was first elected to the council in 2016 and was re-elected in August. He has been involved in the town’s planning and development since he moved there in 1988, according to his bio on the Gilbert website.

Anderson’s move up left a vacancy on the council, but not for long. The council immediately voted to bring Kathy Tilque aboard early.

Tilque was elected to a four-year council term earlier this month and had been set to take office in January.

In November, Gilbert voters will choose a mayor from between Matt Nielson and Brigette Peterson, the top two vote-getters in the primary.

Daniels announced her resignation at the end of the Aug. 11 council meeting, effictive immediately, with under five months left in her elected term.

She’d previously chosen not to seek re-election.

The resignation letter she read didn’t not cite a reason for her departure.

She told The Arizona Republic it wasn’t related to her recently announced role as a Maricopa County chair for U.S. Sen. Martha McSally’s campaign. She also said she didn’t yet have new job.

“It will definitely allow me to pursue some other opportunities,” she told the newspaper. “Really this had to do with providing for my family and making sure that I have alignment in my life right now.”

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