Shelley Kloba Appointed to Kirkland City Council

Shelley Kloba has been appointed to the Kirkland City Council.

The Kirkland City Council held open interviews Tuesday afternoon to fill a city council vacancy, with five candidates selected from a recently vacated by Bob Sternoff.

Kloba, an 11-year Kirkland resident and currently the Legislative Director of the Washington Parent Teacher Association, was among the interviewees.  She has served on Kirkland’s Park Board since 2009 and is a trustee on the Lake Washington Schools Foundation. She is employed at The Donaldson Clinic Physical Therapy. 

Kurt Triplett echoed a sentiment expressed by Councilwoman Amy Walen, that "Kirkland has an embarrassment of riches," in having such a broad candidate pool for the position.

The council interviewed Michelle Goerdel, Shelley Kloba,
Santiago Ramos ,  Jon Pascal, and Jay Arnold .

"How deeply grateful we are that you all filled out applications, and on behalf of the city, thank you, thank you so very much," Mayor Joan McBride said before the vote.

At first, the council was evenly split with three members preferring Jon Pascal and three preferring Jay Arnold: Doreen Marchione's first choice was Jay Arnold, Toby Nixon's first choice was Jon Pascal, Dave Asher's first choice was Jon Pascal, Penny Sweet's first choice was Jon Pascal, Amy Walen's first choice was Jay Arnold, Joan McBride's first choice was Jay Arnold. The division resulted in a 3-3 tie vote.

At the tie, each council member put forward their second choice, with Shelly Kloba getting five of 6 nods. On a second vote, Kloba was appointed unanimously to fill the seat.

In the special meeting before the regular council meeting, each candidate answered a number of questions ranging from "What do you believe is the role of government?" to how would the candidates address issues related to the expanding gap between the city's expenses and revenue, all posed in the same order. They came in to interview in random order, one by one.

Overall, each candidate appeared to have a good grasp of city issues and a clear manner of communicating their ideas, with some variation in experience with city government apparent.

"We were all really impressed with the skill and passion of all those who applied," Nixon said, noting that some cities don't get any applicants for vacant seats.

Kirkland resident Bea Nahon, who was there watching the proceedings and commenting on Kirkland Patch's Facebook Page, said she was a little surprised that none of the candidates brought up the contentious Cross-Kirkland Corridor when they were asked how they would handle a situation in which two sides didn't agree on the solution, opting insted to cite examples from their histories.

Any notes taken by the council members during the interviews becomes part of the pubic record, but the council met in executive session for about an hour to discuss the qualifications of the candidates.

Kloba will serve until the 2013 November General election results are certified.  She will be given the official Oath of Office by the City Clerk on May 1.  A ceremonial Oath of Office will be held at the May 7, 2013 Regular Council meeting.

If Kloba runs for election in November and wins, she will continue to serve.  If another person is elected to Position No. 2, the person elected will take office when the election is certified and would serve the remainder of the unexpired term, which ends December 31, 2015.