On Nov. 4, Kenmore held citywide elections for a number of positions, including the city council. The three seats up for election were filled by Nigel Herbig, Joe Marshall (he/him) and Eric Adman (he/him). Herbig is the current mayor, and both he and Marshall were incumbents in this election.
As a newcomer to City Council, this was Adman’s first time running. The city council has seven seats, with five regular councilmembers, one mayor and one deputy mayor. Rather than being elected separately, the mayor and deputy mayor are voted on by the city council and chosen from two of their own members.
As mentioned on Herbig’s website, he has served as both deputy mayor and mayor for Kenmore. His policies have led to six miles of new sidewalks being built and cameras being installed in the city council rooms for increased safety. He hopes to be accessible to the general public and hence holds Zoom meetings during city council sessions where people can speak with him if they are unable to attend the weekly Monday meetings in person at Kenmore City Hall.
Adman currently serves as the fire commissioner with the Shoreline Regional Fire Authority. He has previously worked as a firefighter and EMT, which began his career in public service. Adman hopes that this insight will guide his first term on the city council.
“I’ll be looking at different things within the context of the city of Kenmore, but I’ll say that because of where I worked in this community, I’ve responded to lots of different houses in the community and people at all different economic levels,” Adman said. “We might be there addressing their medical needs, but I might become aware that they have some other needs or some other issues. It’s given me a little bit more insight into the behind-the-scenes of communities.”
Adman is also the president of the SnoKing Watershed Council, a nonprofit organization that protects the watersheds around Snohomish and King County. His passion for environmental conservation was sparked by a stream habitat near his home where he saw the number of salmon sharply decline over the years. Today, he continues to fight for stream and swamp habitats in Kenmore with conservation projects like Water Watchers and the Swamp Creek Habitat Restoration Project. Both of these projects are ongoing and continue to operate in the community.
Similar to Adman, Marshall’s decision to enter the world of local government was also influenced by his involvement in nonprofit organizations. Having been a councilmember since 2017, Marshall initially ran because he wanted to protect St. Edwards State Park. That desire to protect Kenmore’s environment and public spaces has persisted, and it continues to fuel his desire to be on the city council. From the Northshore Rotary Club to the Northshore Parks and Recreation Board to the Cascadia College Foundation Board, he has committed much of his time to local public service projects. These organizations have helped him learn important political strategies, which continue to help him on the council today.
“The thing I got out of the Northshore Parks and Recreation — NSPRA — board, was that you can accomplish some pretty cool things if everybody sets their mind to it and acts largely with enthusiasm and uniformity,” Marshall said. “The thing we accomplished was putting forth a levy — I think it was a $2 million levy — to improve the Northshore Senior Center.”
During his time on the Kenmore City Council, Marshall said that he’s recently observed the Washington state government taking control of decisions previously managed solely by the city, especially regarding decisions around housing and the environment.
“State Legislature has said, ‘no, you can’t do that. We’re going to take away your local power to decide that, city. We’re going to make the decision in Olympia,’” Marshall said. “There are several examples of situations like that where we need to be vigilant about local control. We want to comply with state standards. We believe the goals the state sets, for the most part, are good or we agree with them, but we’ve got to be able to reserve our own right to implement them ourselves and make our own decisions.”
To accomplish this, he suggests following the Growth Management Act, which requires growth plans for fast-growing cities and counties in Washington state. As a part of this strategy, he sees a collaboration between state and city governments as the best way to accomplish the goals that further the interests of the people.
“The state can set goals, and we all agree on the goals, or at least we elect state representatives who go in there and vote in general, and they, for the most part, are going to reflect our values,” Marshall said.
As the sole newcomer among the councilmembers elected this year, Adman said that he plans to use his established relationships within the government to help him achieve his legislative goals, including conserving and balancing the Kenmore budget. He hopes to build collaborative solutions to problems that affect the local community and beyond.
“I think it really starts with having relationships,” Adman said. “Within the city council, I already know all the existing city council members, so I’m comfortable having that conversation with any of them.”
Marshall’s love of the local community and a desire to make it better motivated him to be on city council. He said that a piece of advice he had received from a local official when he was first running for city council has stuck with him.
“Our outgoing city manager, Rob Carlin, said, ‘Joe, you want to protect the best of Kenmore, what we’ve got. You want to say “What’s great about Kenmore?”’” Marshall said. “I grew up here, and all I’ve ever seen is everything get bulldozed. I’ve seen forest after forest and woods after woods get bulldozed. I’ve seen streams buried and piped up underground, and I want to see if we can preserve the little bit that we have left.”
As stated by Herbig’s website, he hopes to build on his work from his previous terms regarding environmental protection and public welfare. Specifically, his focus for his term is affordable housing and transportation. His perspective of cities also having a say in decisions, rather than just the state, is a large part of what continues to guide his policies and work as a part of city council. For Marshall and Adman, the city council is about making a positive impact on citizens’ day to day lives. They hope to solve a host of issues that affect Kenmore residents, while also implementing policies and creating spaces that improve public life.
“We got Pride Month, we’ve got camera or movies in the town square,” Marshall said. “Previous council actually raised the interest in putting together a community center and a community gathering place down at the Hangar. We didn’t have anything like that when I was growing up.”
