Juanita Neighborhood Association Embroiled in Bizarre Leadership Dispute

Members of the Juanita Neighborhood Association hope to resolve at a meeting tonight what they regard as a takeover attempt by an outsider, a Lake Stevens man who claims to be the group's 2012-13 chairman.

“It’s just so bizarre. It’s just unbelievable,” said Karen Lightfeldt, an association board member and longtime Kirkland resident.

The association, which serves as the community’s liaison with the City of Kirkland, was reformed last year after annexation added north Juanita to the city. At an association meeting earlier this year, Mirza Avdic was apparently elected as a temporary chairman.

Lightfeldt said that when members of the association subsequently learned Avdic was not a Juanita resident, they told him he could not be chairman. Not only did he challenge them vigorously, he also claimed to have been elected not just as temporary chairman, but to have been elected unanimously as chairman for 2012-13.

“He just started attending meetings. Everybody is welcome," said Lightfeldt. "It’s never been established why” a Snohomish County resident would want to be chairman of a neighborhood group in Kirkland.

However, an Avdic supporter, association board member T'Chani Hill of Juanita, said Avdic once lived in Kirkland and operates a non-profit in Kirkland.

"He just enjoys the community," she said. "This is where he enjoys being. He spends a lot of time here. It has nothing to do with a take-over."

On the association’s web site, Avdic writes that “Throughout my adult life over the past decade, I have either volunteered in my community or publicly officially served every city I have lived in. I also help out in cities and communities that I don't live in. Through it all, I have gained tremendously valuable experiences and learned a lot about public service by serving on the local, national, and international levels, in different cities and states, along public officials, mayors, senators, and even a former president.”

Nobody else involved with the association or the City of Kirkland knows why someone who lives nowhere near Juanita would want to be chairman of the Juanita Neighborhood Association.

“We just don’t know what his motivation is,” said Kari Page, the city’s coordinator with the various neighborhood associations across Kirkland.

The issue is serious enough that city staff and City Council members have become involved. Members of the association have asked for a police presence at the meeting, during which new board members are to be elected.

“I think people felt if there was a police officer present, people would behave,” said Page.

Kirkland's several neighborhood associations act independently of the city and are not official city groups. But they may apply for small city grants and work with the city to address a variety of issues, such as new parks and legislation, traffic issues and neighborhood activities.

One board member of the Juanita Neighborhood Association was so upset by Avdic’s claims and approach that he quit in April, said Lightfeldt.

Another issue that concerns many members is that Avdic and Hill have also proposed a complete rewrite of the board’s by-laws, which are now similar to those of other neighborhood associations in Kirkland.

Page said she requested a meeting with Avdic and other board members to discuss the proposed new bylaws, but he failed to respond. The proposed by-laws are also on the agenda for the meeting.

Hill said the new by-laws are simply designed to streamline the association's operations and ensure regular meetings and attendance.

Lightfeldt is urging all interested Juanita residents to attend tonight’s meeting, at , 9635 NE 132nd, beginning at 6:45 p.m.

Kirkland Patch is attempting to contact Avdic and will update this story he responds.

A host of other issues -- new parks, historical signs, city grants -- will be discussed at the meeting. For an earlier Patch story about the meeting, .