EVERETT – Three people are finalists for Doug Campbell’s City Council seat.
Planning Commission member Drew Nielsen, restaurant owner Jim Staniford and business consultant Robert Strickland were selected by a council screening committee from a list of 11 people who applied for the spot.
City Council President Arlan Hatloe and council members Mark Olson and Marian Krell met Wednesday night to select the finalists.
Hatloe said none of the three is the favorite at this point. “We have three good people, and it will boil down to the interview process,” he said.
Campbell is stepping down Sept. 1 to take an economic development job in his native Nebraska.
Drew Nielsen, 53, said now is an exciting time to sit on the council.
“There is a tremendous amount that is being accomplished in Everett,” he said. “We’re on a good track, and we need to build on those strengths.”
Nielsen has been on the planning commission since 1993. He is chairman of the tree commission, a member of Mayor Ray Stephanson’s vision team, former chairman of the Council of Neighborhoods and a founding member of the Northwest Everett Neighborhood Association.
He is divorced and has two sons, ages 18 and 16.
Jim Staniford, 50, co-owner of the Vintage Cafe downtown, said he wants to be on the council to “put something back in the city.”
“I like what the council is doing, and I feel I can help the council, whether it’s a little or a lot, to keep on the path it’s going,” Staniford said. “I hope to learn from the council, and hopefully the council will learn from me.”
Staniford, who regularly attends council meetings, unsuccessfully challenged Councilman Bob Overstreet in the 2003 election. He has a wife and a stepdaughter.
Robert Strickland, 59, has lived in Everett only for two years. But he said he has been far more involved in community affairs here than in his native Texas.
“This is the finest city I’ve ever lived in,” he said.
Stickland said that, as a council member, he would spend a lot of time on urban planning and transportation issues and be a visible presence throughout the city.
Strickland owns a business consulting firm with his wife. He sits on the mayor’s vision committee and is active in the Everett Area Chamber of Commerce and the Downtown Everett Action Committee.
The other applicants for the position were Kim Buike, Gene Dvornick, Jack Kelly, Bob Monize Jr., J. Gregory Shaffer, David Skerlong, Rico Jon Tessandore and Andrea Wells-Edwards.
The full council is scheduled to interview the three finalists and choose a new council member in a special public meeting at 10 a.m. Sept. 2 in council chambers, 3002 Wetmore Ave. The new council member is scheduled to be sworn in at the Sept. 8 council meeting.
Reporter David Olson: 425-339-3452 or dolson@heraldnet.com.
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