The Islanders who have submitted their names for consideration for the open position on the Mercer Island City Council are a divergent group.

They include an Army Ranger and a pair of Boeing employees. There are four with law degrees and a political consultant who works in Ghana. An Islander who owns a small business has put her name forth along with public relations professionals, consultants and champions of nonprofits.

Nearly all have been very involved in the community; from schools to the Farmers Market to Youth and Family Services. All, however, are united in their belief that more needs to be done to protect and enhance the Island’s quality of life.

The City Council held a special meeting on Tuesday Jan. 6 to hear each candidate speak.

The candidates are: Megan Coppersmith Szerwo, Darren Gold, Bradley Jennison, Ralph Jorgenson, Andrew Lamb, Steve Marshall, Terry Pottmeyer, Carl Silverberg, Matthew Tardif, Joel Wachs and Wendy Weiker.

Each candidate had five minutes to speak to the Council during Tuesday’s meeting and answer questions about why they want to serve on the Council, which regional issues they have an interest or expertise in and what experiences or skills they will bring.

Then, panels were formed and each candidate answered two more questions, which were drafted by current councilmembers and selected by the city manager. In the two weeks before the new councilmember is selected, candidates are able to meet with current members and ask questions or further explain their qualifications.

At its meeting on Jan. 20, the Council will nominate and vote from the candidate group for appointment of the vacancy.

The person chosen for the position can choose to be sworn in on Jan. 20 or Feb. 3, but will be able to participate in the Council’s planning session on Jan. 23-25 in any case.

Tana Senn, who currently holds position No. 4, was elected representative to the Washington State Legislature for the 41st District in November. She announced her resignation effective Jan. 5, to focus on state issues.

Read on for a brief summary of each candidate’s application, in alphabetical order.

Megan Coppersmith Szerwo, a seven-year Island resident, said she is interested in serving on the Council to help with transportation, small business and emergency preparedness.

In her application, she said she was affected by the Metro cuts earlier this year and is concerned with the Council’s recent decision to abandon Sound Transit’s plan for a park and ride at the Mercer Island Community and Events Center, “a very viable resolution to the park and ride overcrowding that I encounter every weekday morning.”

She works as a public information advisor for the City of Seattle, and has been on the communications staff for the Seattle City Council and King County Elections. She spent five months serving as press secretary for Seattle Mayor Ed Murray.

“Hand-in-hand with the park and ride overcrowding comes my interest in long-term planning for the city and what it looks like in the future, helping to preserve our community spirit and involvement while also helping our businesses succeed,” she said.

She is an active volunteer with different groups in Seattle and owner of Little Britches Bakery.

Darren Gold is a newer member of the Mercer Island community, and said his focus if selected to serve on the Council would be the city’s children, environment and sustainability.

In his application, he wrote that he relocated to the Island for his children because it has “first class schools and facilities for children” and non-school facilities like the future Mercer Island Center for the Arts, Mary Wayte Pool and parks.

He suggested the city partner with other institutions that provide services and facilities for children, like the JCC, Farmer’s Insurance and the Mercerwood Shore Club.

He said that he has no current or past community involvement or service on city, nonprofit or public boards or committees. He works as a patent portfolio manager at Boeing, and has a degrees in economics, engineering mathematics and statistics, computer science and law.

Bradley Jennison grew up on Mercer Island, and graduated from MIHS in 2001. In his application, he wrote that the community has “been the rock from which I have ventured and returned… The place not only where I live, but recognize as part of who I am.”

He said that transportation, Town Center development and education must be the focus of the Council, and it’s important to balance serving Islanders’ interests and fulfilling obligations to regional partners when considering issues like the park and ride and Sound Transit’s bus turnaround plan.

“I balance an impulse for Mercer Island to remain suspended in time with the knowledge and change is both inevitable and necessary for the community’s well-being,” he said.

Jennison served four years as an Army Ranger in Iraq and Afghanistan, and then worked as a research assistant and fraud analyst for Starbucks.

He said he would fulfill the duties of the Council position “through the hard work and dedication necessary until an elected representative is again voted into office.”

Ralph Jorgenson has long been involved in Island school and recreation projects. He served as co-chair of the committee for the 2014 $98.8 million school facility bond and has been on the MISD PTA Council, Board of Trustees at Sunnybeam Preschool, as well as a youth soccer, softball and T-ball coach.

He is a consultant and owner at Springboard Strategics, LLC.

“In a recent community volunteer position with the 2014 school bond campaign, I had the privilege and responsibility to present to many different Island groups including: Probus, Rotary, Kiwanis, MI Chamber of Commerce, MI Preschool Association, realtor groups, MI Firefighters, MI Clergy Association and local PTA school units,” he wrote in his application.

He said his priorities as a councilmember would be public safety, including police, fire, traffic safety and emergency planning,  open space, schools, and infrastructure such as roads, public parking, sewer, water quality and service.

He said he supports the use of the recycling site by Mercerdale Park as the home of the Mercer Island Center for the Arts, agrees with abandoning the proposal to add parking at the Community and Events Center and said the city should continue to monitor the prospect of tolling on I-90.

Andrew Lamb has lived on Mercer Island with his family for four and a half years. He has four children, two in elementary school, one at Sunnybeam Preschool and a one-year-old.

In his application, he wrote that he regularly volunteers in their classrooms and has coached youth soccer, T-ball and Little League. He is a member of the Mercer Island Young Life Committee and of the Fischer Plumbing Cycling Team, which promotes bicycle safety.

The three issues he would focus on are transportation and parking related to light rail, water quality and the library renovation. He said his work as an independent legal consultant provides a flexible schedule and relevant experience.

“As an attorney I have honed analytical, written and verbal communications skills, working with a variety of personalities and situations, to effectuate win-win solutions to challenging issues,” he said.

Steve Marshall has applied for the City Council a few times in the past, but said that his interest, background and expertise on several of the key challenges facing Mercer Island in the next few years make him an ideal candidate.

He is a member of the Mercer Island Planning Commission, a trustee of the Municipal League Foundation of King County and a member of King County Regional Transportation Task Force.

He said that the hot button issues on the Island, including I-90 tolling, the failure of the first school bond, the library controversy and the emerging parking and transit-oriented issues could have been avoided through “more and earlier citizen input.”

“I would emphasize and encourage more community involvement in the coming regional decisions that could disparately impact Mercer Island,” he said.

Marshall has lived on Mercer Island since 1976, and he and his wife raised three daughters here. He said his goal is to help Islanders “preserve the character and qualities that attracted our citizens and neighbors to live here in the first place.”

Terry Pottmeyer, the 2011 Mercer Island Citizen of the Year, said she is applying for the Council vacancy to “meaningfully participate in keeping our city fiscally healthy, responsive to community needs and safe.”

After leading the Eastside nonprofit Friends of Youth for five years, Pottmeyer said she is taking a sabbatical to explore other opportunities. On the Council, she would prioritize downtown development, transportation issues and sustainable funding for city services, like Youth and Family Services (YFS).

She was president of the Mercer Island School Board for three years before resigning in 2000, reinvigorated the YFS Foundation, helped form the Band Boosters and chaired the Mercerversary 50 Committee in 2010.

“I am grateful that I am at a time and place in my life where I can respond to this opportunity for service to the community,” she wrote in her application. “I believe that my community involvement has made Mercer Island a better place – in concrete ways including remodeled schools, sustainable human services funding, shared celebrations and a very sharp looking band.”

She said she wants “to ensure the needs of our youngest citizens are consciously in the decisions we make for our city and am especially committed to the counseling services in our schools and volunteer programs for our youth.”

Carl Silverberg has experience in government, just not in Mercer Island. He currently works as a political strategist for the President of Ghana. Previously, he worked with lobbyists and elected officials in Washington D.C., doing fundraising and communications, and before that was the executive assistant for U.S. Representative Carolyn Maloney.

In his application, he wrote that his company has provided internships for MIHS students. He is on the board of Mercer Trading and is an active member of the JCC.

“Mercer Island is going to experience significant changes over the next 10 years, changes that give us the opportunity to enhance the sense of community that we all love about living here,” he said, especially in relation to Town Center. “We don’t want two Mercer Islands: those who live downtown and those who live everywhere else.”

His other goals would be to build on the city’s successful efforts in sustainability by establishing a city internship program, and improve Council communication by engaging residents – by visiting Covenant Shores and Aljoya, going to PTA meetings and using social media.

Matthew Tardif moved to Mercer Island via Johannesburg, South Africa because “it seemed very comparable in size to the city that I grew up in on the shores of Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire.”

He has three children attending school on Mercer Island. His goals are to make downtown a more viable destination, and organize more community events.

“I would work on a select committee to attract anchor businesses that could allow Mercer Island to retain its main street character, but secure some more widely known regional and national chains,” he said.

Tardif is a loss control consultant for Puget Sound Educational Services District, working with more than 33 educational districts. He served on a community policing forum to reduce crime while living and working in South Africa, and said he has been involved in many school communities.

He would try to find more enrichment opportunities, sports, arts and culture-related events for children on the Island.

Joel Wachs runs the Farmers Market and serves on the Town Center Visioning group and Committee for Mercer Island Public Schools. He is chair of the Open Space Conservancy Trust and vice-chair of Mercer Island Library Board.

“Public policy and volunteering have been a central focus of my life,” he said. “Working with (different) groups has given me not only a deeper understanding of the various public policy issues confronting our community and region, but also a voice in solving some of them.”

He said the three highest priorities facing the city are operating on a tight budget, managing growth and development and finding solutions for the Island’s transportation issues. As a councilmember, he would address the public water supply, South-end fire station, library remodel and parking.

His leadership experiences extend beyond the Island. He served as president of the Washington State Farmers Market Association, on the PCC Farmland Trust and on the AgForestry Leadership program.

“I cannot imagine my life now without these ties or my deep commitment to Mercer Island, the Puget Sound region and the state of Washington,” he said.

Wendy Weiker said she wants to run for City Council because she cares about the Island’s “people, places and prosperity.”

She works as the community involvement program manager for Puget Sound Energy.

“My public administration and community engagement background would serve city government well as we work to keep our city safe, vibrant and ready for the region’s growth,” she said.

She said she would also work on enhancing the Island’s transportation services, planning for Town Center development and “meeting high resident expectations for city amenities, infrastructure and regional planning needs with limited budget and city staff capacity.”

Weiker, who currently serves on the Utility Board, said she understands the impact of last fall’s boil-water advisories, and “can contribute to addressing existing concerns so Mercer Island residents and businesses don’t have to manage another boil advisory in the future.”

She has also served on the Mercer Island High School PTA, Mercer Island Town Center Visioning Group and Band Boosters.