Video recording of this Issaquah City Council Candidate Forum can be found here >> .
Issaquah’s City Council has four positions open for election this year. Two races are contested with two candidates each. For several years now, Highlands Council has provided public forums that bring candidates before the voters to answer tough questions and to explain the issues before the City. These forums are well-attended and video recorded to serve those unable to attend.
Running for Position 2 are Michele Kemper and Zach Hall, for Position 3 are Tim Flood and Barbara de Michele. Positions 4 and 6 have incumbents running unopposed.
Highlands Council works with a volunteer team of highly engaged, non-partisan residents to bring these events to the community. This team works together to orchestrate a Q & A session that will bring out differences between the candidates in a non-combative manner. Questions were asked about traffic, capital improvement investments, safe injection sites and governing style. Volunteer Reneee Zimmerman served as the forum moderator, and Madaline Kane as timekeeper.
Questions, issues and concerns were submitted by the community in advance of the forum. The forum team then curated a slate of questions for the candidates prioritizing fairness and and effort to dig deep into the issues. Questions were contextualized with short explanations of the operations of local city government.
The program also included unstructured time for voters to become acquainted with the candidates personally in an additional effort to aid residents in becoming more-informed voters.
This kind of programming is Issaquah Highlands-based but serves all of Issaquah. Everyone is welcome to attend these forums. Through such programming Highlands Council fulfills at least two of its assurances to the community: offering life-enriching opportunities and by providing meaningful opportunities to connect with the greater community.
The forum opened with presentations by two incumbents running for re-election unopposed:
City of Issaquah, Council Position 4
City of Issaquah, Council Position 6
After these statements, Zimmerman embarked on a list of far-reaching questions, allowing the candidates to speak their minds on the issues that matter most to the community. The candidates running for positions 2 and 3 are:
City of Issaquah, Council Position 2
City of Issaquah, Council Position 3
This event was produced by Highlands Council and sponsored by Highlands Council and the Issaquah Reporter. A/V support and video recording was provided by ICTV.
The next Candidate Forum for City Council will be Thursday, October 17, 2019.
Blakely Hall has been a venue for candidates forums for many years, but Highlands Council began producing such forums for the greater community in 2017.
**As an organization, Highlands Council does not endorse any candidate.**
