If a swearing-in ceremony is any indication, it’s official.
Lake Forest Park resident Steve Plusch was appointed to fill a temporary vacancy on the City Council.
After a unanimous vote by council members, Plusch was sworn-in by a judge and took a seat with the rest of the council members for his first meeting on Thursday, Nov. 16.
“I almost fell out of my chair,” said Plusch, who previously served on the city’s planning commission for nine years beginning in 1997. All four candidates for the temporary position attended the meeting to hear the Council’s selection.
Plusch and three other residents were interviewed for the temporary council position at the Nov. 9 council meeting during open session. The vacant seat is due to Council member Dwight Thompson being deployed to Afghanistan for more than a year. A colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve, Thompson’s last Council meeting was Nov. 9.
As a former planning commission member and a member of the city’s Urban Forest Task Force, Plusch said he is familiar with many city issues.
“It was up to the council who they wanted, but I have a good background,” said Plusch, 64. “I can be useful right away; there’s a lot I don’t know, but I have a good foundation.”
Salary for the part-time position is $500 per month; there are no benefits.
After being appointed to the council, Plusch immediately resigned as a member of the Stewardship Foundation board.
“I chose to resign because I believe it would be a conflict of interest,” said Plusch, adding that it has been a rewarding experience serving on the board the past year.
Stewardship Foundation members, who often work closely with administration and city staff, are on the “opposite side of issues” on occasion, said Plusch. Rather than possibly having to recuse himself from a council vote, Plusch opted to resign.
He will, however, remain on the Urban Forest Task Force, to which he was appointed by Mayor Dave Hutchinson. The committee was considering asking a council member to participate anyhow, he said.
Before the unanimous vote at the council meeting, members discussed in executive session the results of the interviews and their feelings about various candidates, said Mayor Pro Tempore Roger Olstad.
“The council collectively felt that Steve was bright, knowledgeable, hardworking and in a number of capacities had served the city in the past,” said Olstad. “This is the consequence of those characteristics.”
Plusch’s involvement in the city began in the late 1990s when he chaired the city’s telecommunications committee and became active in crime watch. He first moved to the city in 1989 to be chief of operations for the U.S. Coast Guard for the Pacific Northwest. He then retired in 1994 from the U.S. Coast Guard and later settled in the city.
Plusch has a bachelor’s degree in Engineering from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy and a master’s degree in electrical engineering. He and his wife, Karen, have two grown children.
He is interested in exploring how the city can support home-based businesses and would like to see a thriving Towne Centre. Plusch also said he is concerned about land-use issues “so that the city of Lake Forest Park is the same kind of city in 25 years that it is now.”
To become more familiar with city issues, Hutchinson said Plusch will have the opportunity to meet with department heads.
“We will help orient him,” said Hutchinson.
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