Editorial: Elect Hem, Rhyne, Burbano to Everett council seats

Published 1:30 am Thursday, July 17, 2025

By The Herald Editorial Board

The decisions by current Everett City Council members Mary Fosse and Liz Vogeli to not seek reelection to their posts will mean at least two new members serving on the council, which includes five elected by district and two at-large positions. Three of the four council races require a primary. The Aug. 5 election will narrow the fields of candidates to the top two, who will face off in the general election.

District 1

District 1 includes Everett neighborhoods largely north of Hewitt Avenue and also much of the Riverfront neighborhood.

Fosse’s departure opened the field to five candidates: Sam Hem, Steven Sullivan, Mason Rutledge, Bill Wheeler and Erica Weir.

Sullivan provided no email address and could not be reached by phone to participate in an interview.

Wheeler, who previously ran for the council in 2023, was convicted in 2014 of sexually exploiting a 16-year-old employee who flashed customers for tips at one of two bikini barista coffee stands he owned. He was sentenced to three years in prison. An appeals court upheld the conviction. Wheeler was interviewed, but in the opinion of the editorial board should not serve on the council.

Erica Weir, a lifelong Everett resident, is general manager for Village Theater and an educator with its Kidstage program. She serves on the Downtown Everett Association board and with the Everett Chamber and works with the League of Women Voters.

Weir said her work downtown has provided perspective on issues of public safety and homelessness and the crisis of mental illness. She said she’d like to find compassionate ways to address those issues, acknowledging there aren’t easy answers but wanting to find additional resources, including shelter and housing. She said she also notices that the city’s first responders are stretched thin at times and suggests creating positions that could take some non-enforcement duties off the hands of police, including bringing back park ranger positions.

Mason Rutledge, who has lived in the city for more than 20 years, owns a real estate and investment business and previously ran religious nonprofit agencies regarding business and professional development. He has volunteered with the Everett School District, including on its fiscal advisory council and served on the county’s public facility district.

Rutledge said he’s made a point of visiting residents in his district regarding their concerns and said he’d focus on issues of public safety, homelessness and the city’s budget. Rutledge said residents have told him they don’t feel safe, for example, going to the local grocery store’s pharmacy, sending them and their tax dollars out of town. With the supply and spectrum of housing that the city has, he said, Everett should look to enhance safety and keep its sales tax dollars within the city, thereby improving its revenue outlook.

Sam Hem, working as a labor leader for 22 years, is the assistant regional manager for the sheet metal workers local, representing its members on political and legislative issues. Hem listed priorities of neighborhood safety and access to affordable stable housing and living wage jobs.

To improve access to housing, improve hiring wages for those in the construction industry and fairness to utility ratepayers, Hem suggested a city ordinance that requires greater adherence to state and local laws regarding the construction industry and requirements for more housing to be set aside for subsidized and workforce housing. Hem also said he would support encouragement of apprenticeship programs.

Addressing both public safety and budget issues, Hem suggested looking for ways to reduce overtime by police and firefighters by freeing them from tasks that are not a good use of their time.

Among Weir, Rutledge and Hem, each offers separate perspectives and experiences that would complement the current council; noting Weir’s long career working with the performing arts and children, Rutledge’s commitment to outreach and consensus building and Hem’s emphasis on the city’s workforce and housing issues.

With the city still needing to add to its stock of housing to assure greater affordability and provide local jobs, while providing the physical and civic infrastructure to serve a growing city, Hem appears best suited to help the council pursue the best path forward and should be the District 1 voters’ choice.

District 2

District 2 includes most neighborhoods south of Hewitt Avenue to Highway 526.

Incumbent council member Paula Rhyne is seeking her second four-year term on the council. She is challenged by Ryan Crowther. A third candidate, Jonathan Shapiro, filed for office and will appear on the ballot but is not actively seeking election because he did not meet the residency requirement.

Crowther has served as president of the Edmonds Chamber since 2022, but is best known as the founder and leader since 2012 of the Everett Music Initiative nonprofit and its musical programming, including the annual Fisherman’s Village music festivals.

Crowther also serves as the chair of the Everett Public Facilities District board and helps lead an Everett School District career path committee. As well he was chair of the Leadership Snohomish County Board and its Emerging Leaders and Engaging Everett programs.

Crowther listed public safety as a top priority, including the issues of crime, homelessness and mental health. Crowther said that while he agrees with efforts to provide services to those in need, he’s concerned that some of the criminal activity is draining the city’s resources, especially regarding police and fire departments. He supports the city’s “no sit, no lie” areas and their expansion as important to protecting assets such as the Children’s Museum as well as the broader downtown. He said he’d support a stronger response to arrests for drug possession and repeat offenders.

Those public safety issues will be a part of the city’s revitalization and economic development and recruitment of new businesses, as will creating a more walkable city and its marketing. Crowther also is concerned for the delay among the range of permit approvals that is holding back small business.

Fixing those issues, he said, could help the city generate more revenue and improve its ability to retain and expand the services it provides.

Fundamental to the council’s work, Crowther said he believes council members have been more at odds with each other. There will be always be instances of disagreement, he said, but the environment at the council has become unproductive and in need of a more collaborative approach that he can offer.

Rhyne works as a legislative aide to Snohomish County Council member Megan Dunn, and served previously in similar positions in King County and as an affordable housing program coordinator.

Rhyne said she ran four years ago to champion issues of housing, homelessness and economic recovery following the covid pandemic, and now is adding to those priorities a focus on public safety, livability and affordability.

She said she’d continue to pursue a holistic approach to public safety, reducing criminal activity by improving access to food and affordable housing, early learning, programs for youths and career pathways. While she voted against the city’s “no sit, no lie” and mandatory minimum sentencing ordinances, she said she supports providing city police with the tools and training that are necessary; Rhyne voted in favor of implementation of a camera system that records the license plates of vehicles to better monitor and prevent crime.

Rhyne pointed to her support for reforms that will help improve housing affordability, including a recent comprehensive plan approval that allows for more “gentle” housing density and inclusionary zoning. She also said she was proud of a wage theft ordinance she sought that increases to five from three years the number of years contractors are barred from city contracts if they’ve engaged in wage theft.

Rhyne also said she has worked to ensure the city’s continued promotion of cultural arts and festivals and maintenance of its parks, with hopes of restoring the city’s park ranger positions.

On the city’s finances, Rhyne said she’s worked on organizational changes seeking to make the budget process more transparent and understandable. If the city were to make a second attempt at voter approval of a levy lid lift, she said she like to see that presented with more clarity as to the services that could be restored if approved.

Crowther has paid his dues with his community and event work and accomplished a great deal to make Everett a destination for visitors and a point of pride for residents, and his call for more civil discourse among council members is well taken. However, Rhyne, even in expressing differences on some votes, has consistently demonstrated that civility, while at the same time helping the council adopt needed reforms and steady improvements to the city.

Second District voters should retain Rhyne on the council.

District 4

District 4 includes neighborhoods south of Highway 526 and west of Evergreen Way.

With the pending departure of Vogeli, the District 4 seat attracted three candidates: Alan Rubio, Niko Battle and Luis Burbano.

Battle, a 2019 graduate of Kamiak High School, studied politics and international affairs in college, and is a consultant for small businesses. He has lived in the Everett district since 2015.

Active in debate in high school and college, Battle also was a gun violence prevention activist and has served with the Alliance for Gun Responsibility, working on related efforts. Battle counted public safety as a priority and wants to see the city fill remaining vacancies in its police department. He also would like to see Everett adopt a Police Explorers program, to help build relationships between the department and community and interest young people in law enforcement. Battle also said he would seek ways for the city to improve safety for pedestrians and cyclists through better road engineering and other tools, such as speed and red-light cameras.

Battle also suggests that the city examine a youth liaison position with students from the Everett and Mukilteo school districts.

Alan Rubio, who moved to Everett from the Dominican Republic in 2011, has worked for 15 years as an aerospace contractor, seven as a safety and logistics manager.

Rubio’s focus on council, he said, would be on crime, housing costs and homelessness.

Rubio said a key to improve safety is getting more of those who are homeless off the streets and into shelter. He supports minimum sentences as a deterrent to property crime. And while he supports traffic cameras as a safety tool he doesn’t want them to be used to generate revenue.

Looking more closely at his south Everett district, Rubio said he’d like to see the city invest in an attractive plaza in the district that would attract visitors and residents alike and support businesses. Rubio also said he hoped to work more closely with the residents of this district, particularly the Hispanic community to encourage more engagement with the city government to help bring changes they want to see.

Luis Burbano, an immigrant from Ecuador, has worked for 14 years a design engineer and equipment manager and helps with his wife’s cake bakery. Burbano also serves on the city’s Sound Transit Light Rail community advisory board as it considers a light rail route and stations in Everett, with concern for limiting displacement of residents and businesses.

Burbano said he sees the issues of homelessness and addiction as more of a health and behavioral health issue than a safety issue, and agreed with Rubio on the need for a more immediate response to housing and services. Burbano supports the city’s “no sit, no lie” areas as a way to preserve public spaces for residents and encourage people to more readily accept treatment.

His wife’s business making and selling cakes at farmers markets has opened his eyes regarding how the city could improve the permit process for city businesses, noting the duplicative permits required by the city, county and state. It’s discouraging people from innovative businesses, Burbano said, and should be streamlined and harmonized with the county.

Like Rubio, Burbano said he’d like to see investments in his district and other districts and suggested small garden-like parks throughout the city, perhaps in partnership with schools where kids and adults could help grow vegetables and fruits, helping people manage stress and provide food, too.

Each of the three candidates demonstrated a firm understanding of the issues facing the city and an eagerness to represent their district and all city residents, evidenced by their earlier commitments to community work.

As he’s shown on the light rail panel with concern for avoiding displacement of Casino Road residents and with his community garden proposal, Burbano blends an engineer’s talent for analysis with practical applications that provide holistic solutions. District 4 residents would be well represented by Burbano.

Election info

Along with the editorial board’s endorsements, voters also are directed to their local voters’ pamphlet, the state’s online voters guide at www.vote.wa.gov and a series of recorded candidate forums available at the website of the Snohomish County League of Women Voters at lwvsnoho.org/candidate_forums.

The county voters’ pamphlet is available online at tinyurl.com/SnoCoVotePrimary25.

Ballots will be mailed July 17, and can be returned by mail or placed in one of several county election office drop boxes. Ballots must be postmarked or placed in a drop box before 8 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 5. A list of locations for official drop boxes is available at tinyurl.com/SnoCoElexBox.

More information on voting, registering to vote and the primary and general elections is available at tinyurl.com/ElexSnoCo.

Correction: An earlier version of this editorial misidentified the country from which Alan Rubio emigrated. Rubio emigrated from the Dominican Republic.