MUKILTEO — A local activist who has lobbied for preserving Japanese Gulch as open space now has a seat on the Mukilteo City Council.
Richard Emery, 60, was chosen this week from a pool of 10 candidates to serve on the council. He replaces Marko Liias, who resigned in early January when he was appointed to the state Legislature.
He is set to be sworn in at the Feb. 19 City Council meeting for a term expiring Dec. 31, 2009. He was selected by the City Council.
Emery is one of the organizers of the Save Japanese Gulch Group, a group of citizens that have talked to Everett and Mukilteo officials about obtaining land at Japanese Gulch and setting it aside as open space.
He said he plans to remain involved with the group, but that he’ll step down from his leadership role to focus on his new job with the City Council.
“I really am quite intrigued and excited about working with the people on the council,” Emery said. “I’ve met many of them in one capacity or another, and I have a great respect for all of them. I look forward to an exciting and productive working relationship.”
Emery said he plans to focus on key issues in the city, such as planning for development on the waterfront in Old Town, finishing renovations at Lighthouse Park and preventing commercial passenger service at Paine Field.
The council was impressed by Emery’s knowledge of the various issues in Mukilteo, City Council President Randy Lord said.
“The thing we liked about him from what I could tell is he was very clear, he communicated well, and he had a pretty good understanding of how the system works,” Lord said. “He’s easy-going, he understands working with groups, he understands working with a consensus and he understands things don’t get done overnight.”
At a special meeting, the City Council interviewed each of the 10 candidates in public session. After the interviews, council members went behind closed doors to deliberate and choose a finalist.
The council started by narrowing the group of candidates down to five, then to three, then two and finally to one, Lord said.
The other candidates included a former City Council member and residents who regularly attend council meetings.
“I think they had some good candidates, and I’m just really flattered they were able to vote to accept me,” Emery said.
Reporter Scott Pesznecker: 425-339-3436 or spesznecker@heraldnet.com.
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