With Cy Sun’s recall as mayor of Pacific officially certified by King County Elections of Tuesday morning, the City Council wasted no time getting on with the business of choosing the City’s mayor for the next two years.

At a special meeting that same evening, council members separately interviewed then nominated John Jones and Leanne Guier as candidates, on Wednesday they hosted a public question-and-answer forum, and on Thursday are expected to choose between the two council members.

Upon the official validation of Sun’s recall, the final tally was 949 (65.4 percent) votes in favor of Sun’s recall, and 502 (34.6 percent) in favor of retaining the former mayor.

With 1,453 of the 3,016 ballots that had been issued counted, the official voter turnout was 49 percent.

Upon certification, Mayor Pro Tem James McMahan temporarily assumed the duties of mayor and issued his first official statement, addressing the mayoral selection process and urging the community to unite to put the beleaguered City back on track.

“I hope today can mark the beginning of a new approach in Pacific – one that is inclusive, positive and selfless,” McMahan wrote. “I look forward to our new Mayor leading the charge for that new approach.”

At Tuesday’s special meeting —a continuation of Monday’s regular meeting — Guier and Jones both emphasized the need to assess the City’s financial state – the council has not received a financial report since October, Guier said – and to move forward. Both also underlined the need to heal the rift that has polarized residents and City staff since Sun’s 2011 campaign for mayor.

“Realistically, the biggest healing I can think of is stability and doing your job and doing it the best you can,” Jones said. “Again, how do you make somebody that thinks differently or opposes you feel good about what you’re doing if they’re opposed to it? I think by trying to bring people together as far as citizens’ committees and input.

“Some of it’s not going to be healed,” Jones conceded. “Some people may lose their jobs. You can’t look at that and say it’s all going to be all fluffy and hold hands and sing around the campfire. It’s just not going to work. It’s a City and a government, but it’s still a business, and we have to move forward with that business. Sometimes some feelings will be hurt. But hopefully, in the long run, if we’re doing our jobs right and the citizens are reaping the benefit of that, then hopefully that will bring some calmness.”

Guier agreed that the priority will be mending the community.

“I think the rift you talk about, or the divide, is pretty deep,” Guier said. “And I think a lot of us feel it in our own neighborhoods. It’s a matter of – I don’t want to talk about the past. Here’s today, here’s a clean slate, let’s move forward.”

Guier added:

“We’re all in this together; we care about Pacific. The employees that are here now, that stayed, they care about Pacific, they obviously love this community. They stayed, they got through it, and whoever becomes the mayor needs to foster those people and those feelings and build on that and bring everybody together. I always joke about just building a fire out in the parking lot and singing “Kumbayah.” It’s not a reality, but I think about it.”

Neither Guier or Jones were allowed to vote in the mayoral selection process, leaving the selection to the remaining five councilmembers.

Pacific’s new mayor will serve out the remainder of Sun’s term which expires Dec. 31, 2015.

Residents will get a chance to question both candidates at a public forum at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Pacific Community Center Gym.