EVERETT — Two familiar faces, including a former council member, could be part of a mostly new group in charge of drawing Everett City Council district boundaries.
Last week the council and mayor nominated Leah Airt-Atkinson, Scott Bader, Ana Benitez, Alessandra Durham, Jared Norman Seitz, Nathan Shelby, Jocelyn Sievers-Bailey and Simone Tarver to the districting commission.
There were 26 applicants.
The nominations are to be confirmed during the council meeting at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday.
Nominees had to “reasonably” represent the city’s five districts geographically.
“For me, it looks pretty diverse for dots on a map of our city,” Councilmember Liz Vogeli said.
Mayor Cassie Franklin put forth Bader, her former city council colleague from District 1. She said he “knows our community very well having doorbelled it many times.” Bader did not seek re-election last year.
City Council President Brenda Stonecipher, who was excused from the meeting, nominated Tarver in writing. The past districting commission chairwoman lives in District 1.
District 2 has three nominees: Airt-Atkinson, Durham and Sievers-Bailey.
District 1 City Councilmember Mary Fosse, who served on the commission last year, nominated Durham as someone to “champion public participation” and “fight for more voices to be heard.”
Councilmember Paula Rhyne, who represents District 2, expects a “super short” learning curve on districting issues for Airt-Atkinson based on her resume.
Councilmember Judy Tuohy recommended Sievers-Bailey, a lifelong Everett resident and educator. Sievers-Bailey also is the daughter of former Snohomish County Councilmember and Treasurer Kirke Sievers, who died in 2019.
Don Schwab, the District 3 council member, nominated Shelby, who lives in his same district.
Vogeli, who represents District 4, nominated Benitez from her district.
District 5 Councilmember Ben Zarlingo nominated Seitz, who is from his district.
Nichole Webber, the city staff liaison to the districting commission, said six of the eight nominees had confirmed their willingness to serve as of Monday morning.
Once all eight are installed, they will choose a ninth member.
Ben Watanabe: bwatanabe@heraldnet.com; 425-339-3037; Twitter @benwatanabe.
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