MUKILTEO — Of 20 hopefuls, six finalists have made the cut to possibly fill a vacant seat on the Mukilteo City Council.
A lawyer, Boeing manager, business owner, fire marshal, pastor, piano tuner, law student, master gardener and fitness instructor were among those vying for the council seat vacated in May by Anna Rohrbough, who moved to California before her term ended.
The candidates on Monday explained to the rest of the council via Zoom why they should get the appointed post that lasts until December 2021 and pays $500 a month. Each had submitted a written application.
Several mentioned interest in affordable housing, a hot-button issue in the bedroom community of about 21,000, where the median home value is $544,200. The financial impact of the COVID-19 outbreak was another common issue.
After hearing the spiels, council members each recommended five contenders, and those with at least three votes earned further consideration. Council members will interview the finalists at a June 22 meeting. The council is expected to name the new member that night.
The six finalists are Glen Pickus, Louis Harris, Donald Saul, Melanie Banfield, Tony Markey and Tina Over.
Three were previously defeated in bids for elected office. Over, a real estate broker, ran for Mukilteo City Council twice, in 2017 and 2019. Markey, a health manager, ran for a seat in 2o16. Harris, a state benefits specialist, was in the 2019 Snohomish County Council race.
Pickus, a former Mukilteo planner who now works for the city of Snohomish, said the seat would be an opportunity to take his dedication to public service “up a notch or two.”
Banfield, who runs an education website for college professors, addressed affordable housing. “Make it available to families who want to put their children in good schools, who want to live close to where they work,” she said.
Donald Saul, the pastor of a church he founded, said he “turned the reins over on my Ultimate Frisbee team to my assistant coaches and now I’m just looking for the next thing to serve in.” He was Mukilteo’s Santa in 2018.
The other candidates were Anya Arnold, Nicole Bennett, David Cook, Carolyn Dode Carlson, Nicole Franklin, Tim Krivanek, Jacob Landsberg, Brian Lee, Leroy McNulty, Phil Salditt, Marc Shemesh, Stuart Turner, Boris Zaretsky and Peter Zieve.
Andrea Brown: abrown@heraldnet.com; 425-339-3443. Twitter @reporterbrown.
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