South Snohomish County politics in 2013 featured an election that brought big changes to Lynnwood city government but none to the governments of Edmonds, Mountlake Terrace, Brier or Woodway.
Other big events during the year were the summer resignation of longtime Mountlake Terrace City Manager John Caulfield and the December resignation of first-term Edmonds City Councilman Frank Yamamoto.
The November election gave Lynnwood a new mayor, a new City Council member, the return of a former Council member and the election of a council member who had held his position by appointment for a year.
Lynnwood’s new mayor is former Edmonds Community College administrator Nicola Smith, who defeated two-term Mayor Don Gough in November after the two had finished ahead of Councilmen Mark Smith and Loren Simmonds in the August primary.
The new Council member is Planning Commissioner Ian Cotton, who defeated former Councilman Jim Smith in an election to replace Mark Smith, who gave up his Council position to run unsuccessfully for mayor.
The returning Council member is Ruth Ross, elected to replace retiring Councilwoman Kerri Lonergan-Dreke, who had defeated Ross in 2009 after Ross had won four-year terms in 2001 and 2005.
Councilman M. Christopher Boyer, appointed in late 2012, won a full four-year term.
The officials elected in 2013 join three councilmen who were newly elected in 2011 and Councilman Simmonds, now in his fourth term.
In Edmonds, Council members Kristiana Johnson, Adrienne Fraley-Monillas and Strom Peterson all won re-election, with Fraley-Monillas defeating former Councilman Ron Wambolt in an expensive contest. The three winners and holdover Council members Joan Bloom, Diane Buckshnis and Lora Petso have started the process of appointing a replacement for Yamamoto, who resigned due to illness.
In Mountlake Terrace, Council members Doug McCardle, Rick Ryan, Jerry Smith and Kyoko Wright all won four-year terms, with Ryan and Smith running unopposed, and Councilman Bryan Wahl won election to the last two years of the term he held by appointment. The Council has appointed a national search firm to find candidates to replace City Manager Caulfield, who took a similar job in Pierce County. In April, Mountlake Terrace voters defeated a proposal to build a new city hall complex, giving the bond issue 53.4 percent of the vote, short of the needed 60 percent.
In Brier, Mayor Bob Colinas easily won re-election, and Councilmen Mike Gallagher, Martin Krienke, Marc Olson and John Joplin all won without opposition.
In Woodway, Mayor Carla Nichols, and Councilmen Bill Anderson, Kent Saltonstall and Thomas Whitson all won re-election without opposition.
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