UPDATED, 2/16 City Council interviews candidates for Allen's vacated position

(l-r) Hank Margeson, Angela Birney, Brian Shutz, John Stilin, David Carson. Hank Myers is behind Carson.
Stephanie Rodriguez is in blue.

Listen to all 13 interviews on a You Tube below  this text.

UPDATED:  Council worked from 1:00 - 5:30 on Saturday screening 13 candidates applying for Council Position #4, vacated by Ms. Kim Allen. Of the few screening interviews I watched, a couple of my favorites were A.J. Taylor and Amy Mayes.  .

A.J. is a lawyer at Microsoft. (No lawyers now on Council)  He's very smart and with big heart.  He demonstrated strong leadership skills.  A.J.'s lived in Redmond for 12 years -- two children -- and didn't have to study the city website to know what was going on.  A.J." is civicly minded, a proud member of the Redmond Rotary.  I chatted with him before his interview; he is very personable.

I was very impressed with Amy Mayes, a City Arts Commissioner.  Her passion is creating affordable housing choices for those in the lower-paying service industries. Amy was well prepared, succinct, with a good grasp of City workings.  When asked, she said her strengths were: "loyalty, strength and calm."

I hope A.J. and Amy will be finalists for the public Interviews on March 7th.

During one of the interviews CM Hank Myers mentioned their responsibility to the Open Public Meetings Act.  He said council members sometimes meet for dinner before their business meetings for team-building purposes.  They also use a "3-touch" process for consensus building, wherein all items of importance are discussed at committee meetings, study sessions, and business meetings. CM David Carson said pretty much everything "gets ironed out" by then.  6-1 and 5-2 votes are indeed very rare. The City Clerk would probably have to dust an inch off her records to find a 4-3.

According to President Hank Margeson, it's been nine years since Council's had to make a Councilmember appointment....Hank Myers.  Mr. Margeson did a superlative job putting the process in place and building public trust.

Bob, opinion.

BY

I didn't watch Paige Norman interview or anyone else I know.  Paige is the founder of "Education Hill Neighborhood Association" and writes a blog "PaigesPrattle."   She posted a thorough report of the meeting, including names of those interviewed and a schedule for future meetings.