Community-first, Resident-focused Leadership.
Strong communities are built on trust, transparency, and meaningful participation. As a former Mayor, City Councilmember, and Chief Financial Officer, I know leadership isn’t a title, it’s a responsibility.
Too often in Sammamish, residents feel their voices don’t matter. Council actions seem to be pre-determined regardless of public testimony.
Real leadership starts with listening. Listening means:
Your voice deserves to guide the future of this city, not be shut out of it. If elected, I pledge to listen first, act transparently, and govern with fiscal responsibility to keep our community flourishing.
Sammamish is at a turning point. We face tough challenges: a budget deficit, rising taxes, and poorly planned growth. These problems require fiscal discipline and community trust. With my background as a CFO and my record as a Mayor, I am ready to meet those challenges.
Today it’s popular to refer to “data-driven” decisions and “facts”. But the reality is that data can be used to support more than one conclusion. And two people can look at the same set of facts and come to opposite viewpoints because of “confirmation bias”. For example, my concern about the natural environment includes wildlife habitat, but someone else with concern for the natural environment may not care about wildlife. Who is right?
My approach will be to promote open communication with residents, work to understand multiple viewpoints, and look for common ground. That’s how you build relationships with residents and a sense of community.
We’ve all completed multiple surveys and felt like the answers were pre-determined. I don’t want to hear another reference to a “statistically valid” survey as a basis for any particular Council action.
I prefer meeting with individuals, various civic groups, neighborhood associations, and service groups to share potential actions that could impact their priorities. Without a local newspaper, keeping up with our local groups and residents is especially important.
As a former Mayor, I know that leadership is not about power. It’s about service. It’s the ability to find common ground and compromise when necessary, and to know when to hold the line. And it’s about a willingness to listen and respect all viewpoints. There is always an opportunity to learn, even from those who disagree.
Leadership without listening isn’t leadership at all. It’s just power and control.