By Julie Muhlstein Herald Writer
SULTAN — Six candidates, including one running a write-in campaign, are seeking three Sultan City Council positions. One more candidate is on the Nov. 5 election ballot unopposed for another council seat.
Incumbent Kenneth Marshall is being challenged for Sultan’s Council Position 1 by Bob McCarty.
Marshall, 32, is a Sultan High School graduate who attended Sno-Isle TECH Skills Center. An electrician, he supervises and mentors minimum security inmates while maintaining the Monroe Correctional Complex electrical system. He served on Sultan’s Planning Board Commission in 2011 before filling a vacant seat on the City Council.
Marshall said he has volunteered to run the Sultan Shindig electrical system, helped revive the Lighting Festival, and joined with schools and business to sponsor a lighting contest.
McCarty, 63, retired from the state Liquor Control Board in 2005. He worked as a state liquor store manager in Sammamish. The operation was audited at least annually, he said. His goal in seeking the council seat is keeping the city’s budget in check.
For Sultan Council Position 3, incumbent Kay George is being challenged by Rocky Walker.
George, 54, owns a Sultan real estate brokerage and works part-time for Delta Zeta sorority in Seattle’s University District. She said she sought the council seat in the last election with several goals: reducing utility bills in Sultan, cutting unnecessary costs at City Hall, and improving the city’s reputation.
“I have lived in Sultan 17 years and love the rural lifestyle, which I hope will be preserved,” she said. George said she will focus on keeping existing businesses and attracting new employers.
Walker, 55, is a retired business owner, kitchen designer and cabinet consultant. He said that after volunteering for the city, interacting with city leaders and the public, he wants to take his service to the next level “and serve the citizens as their voice on the council.”
Walker said several years as a volunteer have made him aware of issues that Sultan is facing.
For Sultan City Council Position 6, Geoffrey Evans’ name will appear on the ballot, but the 31-year-old is not campaigning because he is moving outside the city. He said it was too late to withdraw and remove his name from the ballot. Evan asks that voters who would have supported him instead back a write-in candidate, Bart Dalmasso.
Dalmasso, 73, has been in the real estate business since 1970, and has lived in the Sultan area since the early 1980s. He said his two top objectives are attracting businesses to provide jobs and lowering the cost of living in Sultan.
Also running for City Council Position 6 is Marianne Naslund. A Sultan School District employee for 12 years, Naslund, 43, has lived in Sultan 20 years.
Naslund said she has a bachelor’s degree in business administration and “impeccable research skills.” She said her decisions would be based not on emotion, but on critical thinking and the best interests of the generation population. “Sultan is an amazing place with some truly passionate people,” Naslund said.
John Seehuus is running unopposed for Sultan City Council Position 2.
Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460; jmuhlstein@heraldnet.com.
