Joel Wachs narrowly won a seat on the Mercer Island City Council after four rounds of voting on Tuesday, Jan. 20.
Tana Senn, who previously held the Council position, resigned on Jan. 5 to focus full-time on her role in the state legislature. Eleven Islanders applied to fill her spot, and the Council shrunk the pool down to four – Wachs, Terry Pottmeyer, Steve Marshall and Wendy Weiker – after one round of voting.
Wachs defeated Pottmeyer 3-2 in the final round. Councilmember Jane Brahm was absent for the vote.
The other candidates were Megan Coppersmith Szerwo, Darren Gold, Bradley Jennison, Ralph Jorgenson, Andrew Lamb, Carl Silverberg and Matthew Tardif. At a special Council meeting on Jan. 6, candidates were invited to give a short speech and answer questions supplied by Councilmembers.
Councilmember Debbie Bertlin said that her criteria for voting was based on level of commitment to the community. Wachs has served on boards for the library, open space conservancy and Farmers Market.
“Public policy and volunteering have been a central focus of my life,” he wrote in his application for the Council vacancy. “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.”
Wachs said his first goals will be to work with Islanders on updating the Town Center code and to listen to residents about their views concerning the related issues of growth and change in the community.
He was appointed to serve on the Town Center Visioning Subcommittee.
Councilmembers said that Wachs could hit the ground running. He was sworn in by City Clerk Ali Spietz and took his seat at the dais for the remainder of the Jan. 20 meeting. He also participated in the Council’s planning session this weekend.
His leadership experiences extend beyond the Island. He served as president of the Washington State Farmers Market Association, and on the PCC Farmland Trust and 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.
The Council appointment is effective until November 2015, at which point the seat will be contested during the general election. Deputy Mayor Dan Grausz said that the next Council election presents an opportunity for the applicants who were not appointed.
“Prove that you want to be on this Council, and run in the next election,” Grausz said. “This is an elected office, not an appointed office.”
This story was updated on Jan. 27 at 11:30 a.m.
