Mukilteo appoints council member to fill vacant seat

Published 1:30 am Tuesday, May 19, 2026

EVERETT — The Mukilteo City Council voted Monday to appoint Ilona Van Duser, a retired cybersecurity manager, to fill a vacant seat on the dais.

The seat was left open after first-term council member Mike Dixon resigned from his position in April, citing an increased workload from his job at an insurance brokerage.

The field of candidates — Van Duser, Riaz Khan, Ashvin Sanghvi and David Schlosser — included three frequent participants in city council and commission meetings, along with a newcomer to Mukilteo politics. The council interviewed all four on Monday.

Van Duser is frequent presence at council meetings and a member of the city’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion commission. She ran an unsuccessful campaign for a city council seat in 2025.

In her interview, Van Duser said that she would meet with the different departments throughout the city to look for where efficiencies could be gained in order to balance the city’s budget. She also said the city needs to consider all options, including the possibility of using taxes or fees, to balance its finances.

“Those are options that we need to look at in our toolbox, to say that if this day comes, these are tools we can pull out and be very transparent with our community, and explore our options,” Van Duser said.

Major topics that matter to her, she told the council during the interview, include the possibility of the city joining a regional fire authority, a measure that has been proposed by the city’s firefighters union because of staffing issues. Another topic is the waterfront redevelopment, a process Van Duser hopes will be completed with more offerings at the waterfront while maintaining the charm of the open space and access to the water.

She said she would work with stakeholders to develop solutions.

“What would I do? Educate myself, work with you, learn with you, bring public feedback to you and arrive at the best possible decision for this town,” Van Duser said.

Sanghvi, a retiree who worked at Microsoft as an engineer, is a member of the city’s planning commission and a habitual attendee of Mukilteo council meetings. He unsuccessfully ran for a seat on the council in 2023.

Khan, who works at Boeing, is a regular player in Mukilteo politics. He unsuccessfully ran for office four times — in city council, state representative and senate races — before earning a spot on the Mukilteo council in 2019. He served one term before losing his seat in 2023 to Dixon.

In 2024, he switched political parties from Democrat to Republican and sought a seat in the state Legislature. That run failed; so did an attempt to get back on the city council in 2025.

Schlosser, the vice president of sales at an office supply company, wrote in his application that his top priority was ensuring that the city stays financially strong and remained “a wonderful place to raise a family and have a business.” Schlosser had never sought public office in the city and wrote in his application that he hadn’t watched a council meeting in the past year.

Van Duser is expected to be sworn in at the next council meeting on June 1 and will serve the remainder of Dixon’s term, concluding in 2027. Council members in Mukilteo earn just under $11,000 per year.

Will Geschke: 425-339-3443; william.geschke@heraldnet.com; X: @willgeschke.