Candidates talk revenue, housing, environment - Everett Herald
EVERETT — In the three Edmonds City Council races on this year’s general election ballot, the budget is top of mind.
The races will appear alongside a $14.5 million property tax levy lid lift. In August, the council voted to place the levy on the ballot as a potential revenue stream as the city faces a $13 million budget deficit. In April, Edmonds voters approved annexation into South County Fire. Each ballot measure would increase property taxes by about $65 per month for the median household in Edmonds.
In addition to the Position 3 race that appeared on the August primary ballot, Position 1 and Position 2 are also up for grabs. This year’s candidates talked revenue streams, affordable housing and public safety. The current salary for Edmonds City Council members is $21,076 per year, a city spokesperson said in July.
The county began mailing ballots to voters Thursday.
Position 1
Chris Eck
Eck was elected to Position 1 in 2023. She replaced former City Council member Dave Teitzel, who was appointed to the position after former council member Kristiana Johnson died in 2022. In 2023, Eck was elected over former planning board chair Roger Pence with 57% of the vote. Eck is the vice president of programs for Volunteers of America Western Washington.
She was inspired to run for City Council because she didn’t see enough representation of all neighborhoods in Edmonds. She said most of the focus had been on the Edmonds Bowl, and she has worked to represent more neighborhoods in her time on the council so far. If elected to another term, she said she’d want to continue focusing on more neighborhoods in Edmonds.
“I truly think I’ve tried to do that this past year and a half or so on council, with all decisions, to keep my neighborhood, Westgate, in mind, and our more marginalized or vulnerable areas along Highway 99,” Eck said.
She said her work with Volunteers of America has given her experience working with budgets. In July, Eck voted to put the $14.5 million property tax levy lid lift on the ballot. Eck said her top priority is addressing the city’s budget shortfall, which she calls a “revenue gap.”
“I call it a revenue gap because, in my view, revenue has not kept up with our expenses,” she said. “We have reduced the budget in the last year by $8 million, and that was through not filling positions, laying off people, getting limited positions and just doing a lot less of the work of serving the community, and that’s not sustainable.”
One way to increase revenue, she said, is to attract more businesses to Edmonds, especially along Highway 99.
“I really feel strongly we’ve got untapped potential with Highway 99,” she said. “We’ve got to not only do better at supporting our existing businesses, which we absolutely should do, but we should be attracting businesses, and right now we have just not been dedicating those types of resources.”
If the levy doesn’t pass, Eck said a priority for her will be retaining public safety services as much as possible, including police, fire and human services.
Another priority for Eck is increasing housing variety and abundance. She is a proponent of the neighborhood centers and hubs ordinance the council passed in August, which she said was one of her biggest accomplishments of her first term. The ordinance designated certain neighborhoods in Edmonds as areas for multifamily housing and commercial use. Eck said she wants to continue providing more options for first-time homeowners, including condos, townhouses and small, single-family homes.
Eck wants to continue increasing housing abundance while protecting the city’s critical areas, she said.
“We have many (critical areas) in Edmonds, whether it’s the marsh, creeks, watersheds or tree canopy, all of those things are extremely important anywhere, but particularly for Edmonds residents,” she said.
As of Thursday, Eck had raised $40,424 in campaign contributions, according to state filings.
Eck is endorsed by Snohomish County Democrats, Snohomish & Island County Labor Council and the Sno-Isle Group of the Sierra Club, among other organizations. She’s also endorsed by several elected officials, including U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen, Snohomish County Executive Dave Somers, and Edmonds City Council members Jenna Nand and Susan Paine, among others.
Glenda Krull
Krull has worked in real estate for more than 28 years and is currently a managing broker for Seattle-based Windermere Real Estate. She is also the chair of the Edmonds Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors.
She decided to run for City Council because some Edmonds residents don’t feel like they’re being heard by the city’s current leadership, she said. Krull wants to increase transparency and make sure people in all parts of Edmonds feel served, she said.
“Over the last 10 years, I’ve seen the trajectory of Edmonds, as far as governance is concerned, go down, and just listening to my neighbors and my clients and my colleagues and people who live in Edmonds, people were starting to get really frustrated about how things were going on,” Krull said.
If Krull was on the council this year, she would have voted against the $14.5 million levy, she said, and taken more time to come up with “the real number” the city needs.
“As somebody who markets property prices all the time, I think it would have been a lot better if we had gone to a single-digit instead of a double-digit levy lift,” Krull said. “I think it wouldn’t have caused such a hostile reaction from a large portion of the community.”
If elected to the City Council, Krull would advocate for creating measurable goals to track the progress of each city department to make budgeting more efficient, she said.
“The city needs to have some kind of system for figuring out how their departments are doing and if they are actually producing what the city wants them to produce,” Krull said.
To increase revenue, Krull supports implementing paid parking for visitors and encouraging big-box stores on Highway 99. She’d also want to foster more tourism to increase sales tax revenue.
For housing, Krull would advocate for concentrating density away from the Edmonds Bowl. One of the neighborhood hubs the council passed in August included the North Bowl at the intersection of Puget Drive and Olympic View Drive. Krull added the city needs to be careful not to disrupt critical areas when increasing development.
“As a Realtor, I went to Olympia and advocated for those bills, but we always advocated for them in areas that made sense,” Krull said. “I think the infrastructure of the Edmonds Bowl is not good.”
Krull would also prioritize expanding communications with residents, she said. She would support looking into text notifications and ways to use artificial intelligence, she said.
“(The city) tries to do a good job on their website, but I think that they fail to let everybody know about some of the issues that are coming up for City Council meetings,” Krull said. “I heard many people say, ‘I had no idea they were talking about this.’”
Krull said she prides herself on running a nonpartisan campaign without taking endorsements or donations from partisan organizations.
“I have no political agenda,” she said. “My only desire is to run for City Council, be on City Council for four years and grow old gracefully in my house without being taxed out.”
Krull had raised $33,196 for her campaign as of Thursday, state filings show.
Krull has endorsements from Edmonds City Council member Michelle Dotsch, former Edmonds City Council members Diane Buckshnis and Dave Teitzel and former Edmonds Police Chief Al Compaan. She also has endorsements from several local businesses and community members.
Position 2
Will Chen
Chen has served in Position 2 since 2022. In the 2021 general election, he narrowly won against Janelle Cass, who is now a Port of Edmonds commissioner, with 50% of the vote. Chen runs his own accounting firm in Edmonds. He also co-founded the Edmonds-based Asian Service Center.
He’s running for another term because the city is at a turning point when it comes to the budget, he said.
“Our city is at a critical point in terms of financial and many housing decisions going forward that are going to have a significant impact on our city and our seniors,” Chen said.
In July, Chen voted against placing the levy on the November ballot. He said he is concerned about the potential property tax burden on seniors, combined with the increase from annexation into South County Fire.
“Our residents, our homeowners are going to be the ones paying for this, so I’m just concerned that this is too substantial of an increase,” he said.
Chen’s other priorities include supporting small businesses, encouraging responsible economic development and supporting public safety.
In terms of housing, Chen supports creating a variety of housing types without sacrificing the city’s charm and character.
“Housing is so critical, not only for Edmonds but the entire Northwest region, and my focus is making different types of housing available for different needs, different income levels, different age levels,” he said.
In his time so far on the council, Chen said one of his biggest accomplishments was advocating for a project to place a median on Highway 99. He also said he acted as a “whistleblower” when he let the public know about the city’s budget crisis in a My Edmonds News commentary piece in 2023.
“I try to create win-win situations and look at solutions that are balanced and constructive and beneficial for our community,” Chen said. “I’ve time and time again demonstrated my ability,” he said. “My decision-making is balanced and benefit our community, so I think my input and my financial arguments will continue to be able to benefit the city that I love.”
As of Thursday, Chen had raised $18,576 in campaign contributions, state filings show.
Chen is endorsed by the Sierra Club and IAM 751 Machinists. He’s also endorsed by U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen, Edmonds City Council President Neil Tibbott, and Snohomish County Council members Jared Mead and Nate Nehring, among other elected officials.
Jessica Bachman
Bachman confirmed in a statement to The Daily Herald that she withdrew from the Position 2 race in August, citing personal reasons. Her name will still appear on the November ballot.
Position 3
Erika Barnett
Barnett is one of two newcomers vying for the Position 3 seat currently held by council President Neil Tibbott, who is not running for reelection. In the August primary, Barnett took the lead with 49% of the vote.
Barnett co-owns Salish Sea Brewing Company, which has two locations in Edmonds. She was inspired to run for City Council to continue the community engagement she’s created through her business, she said. Barnett’s priorities are public safety, fiscal responsibility and maintaining quality of life for Edmonds residents.
“I’m running for Edmonds because Edmonds matters to me,” she said in an Oct. 8 interview. “It’s where I live, work and raise my family, and I just want to make sure Edmonds stays a place where families and small businesses can thrive.”
In a July interview, Barnett said she wasn’t sure if she’d vote for the property tax levy if she was on the council. Moving forward, she supports looking into performance-based budgeting and creating key metrics for each department.
“We need to reevaluate how we’re structured, what outcomes we’re willing to accept and how to prioritize resources where they make the biggest impact,” Barnett said in October. “Data should drive those decisions, not anecdotes and wish lists.”
She also supports revenue streams such as paid parking, increasing sales taxes and having the city go through a financial audit before further increasing property taxes. She’d also look for ways to make city operations more efficient, she said, including using AI for public records requests and chatbots for residents to ask questions on the city website.
For public safety, Barnett said she’d support strong emergency response and improving mental health resources. She’d also work to preserve Edmonds’ character by taking care of the city’s parks, supporting local businesses and fostering the arts.
Barnett had raised $27,065 as of Thursday, state filings show.
Barnett is endorsed by Position 3 primary candidate Joseph Ademofe, Snohomish County Council members Jared Mead and Nate Nehring and former Edmonds Police Chief Al Compaan, among others.
Alex Newman
In the primary, Newman trailed Barnett with 42% of the vote. Newman is the executive director of American Red Cross Northwest Washington. His priorities are public safety, affordability and environmental protection. He was inspired to run for City Council after hearing about the potential sale of city parks and the city’s budget crisis.
“It’s time for a nonprofit executive who’s used to working within really tight budgets and creating revenue through creative ways to get us out of this,” he said. “It’s in contrast to the way that I see the other side of the issue working in Edmonds right now, which is to continue to slash and burn everything.”
Newman said he would have voted to place the levy on the November ballot if he was on the council. At the same time, he wants to ensure the council is looking into additional revenue streams. Newman supports raising certain sales taxes, installing more red-light cameras and increasing traffic enforcement to increase revenue without placing the burden on all Edmonds residents.
He also wants to increase housing abundance and variety and more walkable neighborhoods in Edmonds. He’d support building more townhouses and duplexes without getting rid of single-family homes.
In his role with Red Cross, Newman led responses to the Los Angeles wildfires in January and Hurricane Helene in 2024. In a May interview, Newman said emergency management plans are “severely lacking” in Edmonds and he’d work with public safety officials and the city’s environmental community to develop effective plans moving forward. He’d also work to lower the city’s carbon emissions.
For public safety, Newman said he’d ensure the council financially supports fire and police services. He supports community-based approaches to gun safety and creating safe streets and neighborhoods, he said.
As of Thursday, Newman had raised $18,084 in campaign contributions, state filings show.
Newman is endorsed by the Snohomish County Democrats, Washington Conservation Action and the Sierra Club, among other organizations. He also has endorsements from Snohomish County Sheriff Susanna Johnson, Edmonds City Council members Chris Eck and Susan Paine, and County Council members Strom Peterson and Megan Dunn, among other elected officials.