Kristiana Johnson appointed newest member of Edmonds City Council; cat leash law repealed

Edmonds Mayor Dave Earling swears in newly-appointed City Councilmember Kristiana Johnson Tuesday night.

Updated at 10:55 p.m. with additional information, photo

Of the seven members of the Edmonds City Council, five are now women. The four-woman majority on the City Council — Diane Buckshnis, Adrienne Fraley-Monillas, Lora Petso and Joan Bloom — voted Tuesday night to appoint Kristiana Johnson to the Position 1 seat vacated by Councilmember Michael Plunkett, who moved to Seattle.

Johnson, who will serve out the remainder of Plunkett’s term through November 2013, is a former King County and City of Bellevue transportation planner who has been an active volunteer on City of Edmonds boards and commission, including the Edmonds Planning Board, the Edmonds Economic Development Commission and the Edmonds Transportation Committee.

“Iā€™d like to thank all of you for selecting me as your colleague,” Johnson said after taking her seat on the dais. Johnson added that she was “very honored to be amongst this group of candidates,” referring to the 17 other people who applied for appointment to the seat.

Johnson was the only person to be nominated by more than one councilmember, with both Fraley-Monillas and Buckshnis submitting her name during the initial nomination process. The other candidates nominated were former City Councilmember Ron Wambolt, whose name was submitted by Council President Strom Peterson; ex-Councilmember Natalie Shippen, by Lora Petso; accountant Harry Gatjens, by Joan Bloom; and Dick Van Hollebeke, also a former Councilmember, by Frank Yamamoto. In the first round of voting, each councilmember voted for the person they nominated, but in the second round, Bloom and Petso switched their vote to Johnson, and she was immediately sworn in by Mayor Dave Earling.

In other action, the council voted 4-2 (with Johnson abstaining) to repeal a requirement that Edmonds cats be leashed, a law that Assistant Police Chief Jim Lawless described as essentially unenforceable. The ordinance, passed in 2007, made it against the law for pet owners to allow their animals “to run at large during any hours of the day or night, adding that any such animal “may be seized and impounded.” Cats were included because they weren’t exempted from the law in the first place, Bloom said.

Amendments made by the council to the ordinance not only address the issue of cats on leashes; they also spell out the requirements that owners must meet for having their dogs at the Marina Beach Off-Leash Area, which has become a popular gathering spot for dogs and the owners from neighboring cities.

All dogs that enter the off-leash dog park area now are required to be licensed, current with vaccinations “and wearing a collar and identification at all times,” the approved amendment says. “Dogs that are ill or injured, in heat, or that have been declared dangerous or potentially dangerous are not permitted to use the designated off-leash dog park area.”

The changes were recommended as a result of complaints that both park volunteers and the Edmonds Police Department Animal Control Unit have received from citizens about the inability or unwillingness of some owners to control their dogs in the park, Lawless told the council.

In addition, the Council:

– Unanimously approved a code amendment requiring the city to provide expanded notice requirements to property owners for street vacations.

-Heard but did not act on two proposals from Bloom: one to develop a policy that would allow for citizen-submitted emails or statements to be read into the public record and the other to provide councilmembers with their own web pages on the city website where they could have blogs and gather citizen feedback. Councilmembers didn’t show much interest in either proposal; in the first case, it was noted that citizen-submitted letters and emails are already included as part of the official public record, regardless of whether they are read out loud, while in the second, there were worries expressed about city technology staff not having the time to create council webpages nor monitor them for inappropriate citizen-generate content.

-Said an official goodbye to Edmonds City Council student representative Alex Springer, who is graduating from Edmonds-Woodway High School next week and will be attending MIT in the fall.

  1. What an EXCELLENT choice! There were several other excellent choices, but I am thrilled that Kristiana was chosen. Hardly anyone else works harder for the City of Edmonds. She is knowledgeable, intelligent, experienced, ethical, and trustworthy.

    Congratulations, Kristiana!

  2. I don’t know Ms. Johnson. However, I am please that the Council choose a new face and not the usual crowd who is part of the “good old boys club”. Congratulations, Ms. Johnson. Make us Proud!

  3. Well…Mr. Bloom…What I meant was that I am glad it wasn’t someone we typically see around the Edmonds political seen like: (1) Council members who gave up their seats and then tried to get appointed; (2) people who have lost elections in the past; (3) those supported by the Edmonds Chamber of Commerce and/or DEMA. I think that the Council should be composed of citizens from all neighborhoods and walks of like. Frankly, I’d like to see the Council being broken up so that each neighborhood has one representative.

    I’m glad to see a fresh fresh. And, I hopeful that her work with the various committees has shown her: (1) that Edmonds is composed of more than just he bowl and the waterfront; (2) we have serious issues to resolve and don’t have the time to be distracted by cat leash law issues or phone book issues; (3) economic development for our town means looking at ALL the portions of our town — not just the waterfront or downtown; (4) all the businesses in our town should be respected — not just the downtown businesses.

  4. Does anybody know how I can have a dog declared “potentially dangerous”?

    There are frequent problems with dangerous dogs at Marina Beach Park.

  5. The latest newsletter found by the bulletin board discusses how you can handle the situation with fellow dog owners who might not know the rules. If you do not want to approach the dog’s owner, you can call 911 and indicate the concern and request animal control is needed. Dogs that are acting aggressively may not be classified as dangerous. We haven’t heard of too many issues recently. You can go to the website http://www.olae.org and there is a handbook that is very informative regarding dogs and park users.

    Also, summer months bring many visitors that do not know the rules.

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