It makes for great headlines when city councils deadlock on a hot topic, but it makes for much better policy and public service when members compromise and sacrifice in order to reach consensus.
The Everett City Council’s first major decision — since former mayor Ed Hansen left and council president Frank Anderson filled the spot — almost didn’t get made, at least not by the council. A 3-3 tie over which highly qualified candidate would fill the new mayor’s former council seat threatened to send the matter straight to Mayor Anderson himself.
While each member must vote his conscience, it was a relief to see Council members Mark Olson and Bob Overstreet step forward to break the tie and fill the vacant Position No. 1 council seat by appointing Marian Krell. Both Brenda Stonecipher and Krell were excellent candidates. In fact, the council was fortunate to have a long list of motivated applicants involved in various aspects of the community apply for the job. Stonecipher is a member of the city planning commission and shoreline public access committee. Krell recently retired as director of the city’s Office of Neighborhoods. It appears either one could have stepped into the role and performed it well.
This act of consensus building, not often seen in politics anymore, should serve as a precedent for future council decisions. We’ve become far too accustomed to watching most of our elected officials bicker and back stab in the name of partisan politics, but at the expense of the people. Look at the Senate’s failure to pass a Medicare prescription drug bill this week. No sooner had the plan failed than politicians on both sides of the aisle started the finger-pointing game. Such antics have become the norm and what the public has learned to expect, and settle for, at almost all levels of government.
The Everett City Council’s tie-breaking decision may not seem like a grand accomplishment compared to all the other things going on right now in local, state and federal politics. But it does give us reason to hope that such behavior might become a little more contagious (the other Washington could certainly benefit from it, too). At the very least, it is exactly the kind of action worthy of an All-America City.
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