2003 Candidate Questionnaire

SECTION I

BASIC CANDIDATE INFORMATION

1. Name as it will appear on the ballot

First Name	Middle Initial or Nick Name	Last Name
Holly	A.	Plackett

2. Office sought (include office, jurisdiction, position/district number):

Mayor of Redmond - ( I am currently a Redmond City Council Member)

3. Are you the incumbent? No

4. How long have you resided in this district/city?

I have lived in Redmond 23 years

5. How long have you resided in King County?

Since 1969

6. Is the office sought partisan or nonpartisan? Nonpartisan

7. If partisan, please indicate party:

CAMPAIGN CONTACTS

Campaign Name:

Friends of Holly Plackett for Redmond Mayor 2003

Address:

16541 Redmond Way PMB #246-C

City/State/Zip:

Redmond, WA 98052-4482

Campaign Phone:

425-881-7422

Campaign Fax:

n/a

Campaign E-mail:

hollyplackett@yahoo.com

Campaign Website:

www.hollyplackett.com

POLITICAL BACKGROUND

1. Beginning with the most recent position, please list public offices which you have held. Include positions on appointive Boards or Commissions.

Public Office

Elective or Appointive?

Dates Held

Leadership Role (if any)

Redmond City Council Member

Elective

2000-thur 2003

currently, Vice Chair of Council

Redmond Planning Commission

Appointive

1994-1999

Chair and Vice Chair

2. If you ran for public office but were not elected, please list those races below:

Office Title

Year of Run

N/A

SECTION III

In this section, we are seeking responses that reflect the four ratings criteria: involvement, effectiveness, character, and knowledge. These are defined as follows:

Involvement: What has the candidate done previously in family, neighborhood, community, volunteer work, employment or public life to suggest readiness to accomplish challenging objectives? How do these activities demonstrate readiness for the challenges unique to the office sought?

Effectiveness: Has the candidate demonstrated promise of being productive in the office sought? Has the candidate shown the ability to work with other people?

Character: Do the candidate's personal traits show the ability to take on the responsibilities of campaigning for and holding the public office she or he is seeking? Is the candidate a leader, participant or observer? Is the candidate trustworthy, reliable and candid?

Knowledge: Has the candidate demonstrated the willingness and ability to learn and adapt? Does the candidate understand the duties and challenges of the office sought? Does the candidate have a firm grasp of the issues important to his or her constituency and their potential effects?

1. In a page or less, why are you running for this office? (Note: the interview committee will be given a copy of this statement before your interview; at the beginning of your interview you will have the opportunity to expand on this statement in any way you wish.)

I see three areas that need improving in our city and as Mayor I would:

• Strengthen neighborhoods,

• Implement our Downtown Master Transportation Plan to assist our businesses and residents in Redmond and

• Build a more collaborative partnership between the Mayor's office and city council members, and the business community and residents of Redmond.

Strengthening neighborhoods is my key issue. Many times Redmond makes decisions about improvements for neighborhoods, and gets too far into the planning process before reviewing those plans with the specific neighborhood and listening to their concerns and particular considerations. A Plackett administration, we will give our neighborhoods greater influence on plans and improvements prior to any implementation. As Mayor, I would make sure that the neighborhood plans are updated and each neighborhood has an organization in place to discuss issues and bring those discussions to the City Council. This strengthening and formalization of neighborhoods will contribute to mentoring new leadership in our city and will give experience to people who want to participate on our city’s Boards and Commissions or run for elected office.

The current administration and the city council members have begun a very progressive Downtown Master Transportation Plan which is critical to the vitality of our downtown core and has broad public support. I will work hard to complete and implement this plan.

Build a new leadership style that emphasizes communication and collaboration between the Mayor's Office, city council members, the business community, and residents of Redmond.This means redefining “freedom of information” as it applies to our city. Redmond needs to get more information into the community and to the city council to improve our policy decisions and policy administration.

2. Describe your most important personal characteristics or traits as they relate to the office you seek.

I’ve worked very hard at my Redmond City Council job and believe I have built a reputation of fairness, response to resident’s issues and creative solutions to our challenges in Redmond. I believe I have the right combination of skills that have contributed to my success on the council and that will make me a successful mayor:

• a positive attitude

• a dedication to doing my homework

• a great respect for all people

• a patient approach to the democratic process

• a willingness to share this leadership role with a wide variety of dedicated city staff, community volunteers and the elected city council members

3. Please describe in sufficient detail, one to three accomplishments or contributions of which you are most proud. These examples should illustrate effective skills and capabilities you think apply to the office you are seeking. These accomplishments may have occurred at any time in your personal, professional, or public life.

I consider some of my significant accomplishments while on the Redmond City Council to be:

• In early 2000, an opportunity came before the Redmond City Council to assist King County Housing Authority to build 300 affordable apartments atop an existing Metro Park and Ride lot on 156th in Redmond. [A Transit-Oriented Development] What King County asked us to do was to waive $2,000,000 in impact fees to make this project feasible for development. I was proud to support this initiative and encouraged the majority of the council to vote for the fee waiver. Today, The Village at Overlake provides some of the most affordable apartment living on the entire Eastside, as well as encouraging transit use by the residents. I am very proud of my early support for this first-of-its kind project in the Puget Sound area.

• During my first year on the council, I learned that there was a sidewalk project on our Capital Improvement Project list that would make a safer walkway to a junior high in my neighborhood. What I learned was that this project had been on our CIP list for over 12 years! I talked with my fellow council members and together we pushed this project to the top of the list and (finally!) over $3.2 million dollars has now been set aside and this project will begin construction this summer. I’m convinced that this happened because of my constant attention to this project, and the support of a very determined council to get this project to completion.

• I started a newsletter that I send out every other month via email to over 200 constituents in the Redmond area. No one else on the council does a newsletter and I’ve set a new standard for our Redmond residents to exchange ideas on the projects and issues coming before the City Council.

4. Please list or describe your current and past activities in the community in which you have acquired skills that relate to the office you seek. Include your role in the activity and the year(s) in which you were involved. Involvement consists of many areas such as family, neighborhood, community, employment, or public life.

January, 2000 to present: Completing my first term, (four years) on the Redmond City Council. Elected Vice President of the Council in January, 2002.

Currently, I serve as Chair of the Parks and Human Services Council Committee and I am a member of the Public Administration and Finance Committee.

February, 2002 - Selected to serve a one year term on the Regional Transit Committee through the Suburban Cities Association.

Fall, 2001 - selected to represent Redmond on the Founding Executive Board of the newly created Eastside Human Services Forum.

Summer, 2001 - Selected to serve a two-year term on the Association of Washington Cities Legislative Committee.

1998- Served one year on the Citizens Advisory Board for ARCH, (A Regional Coalition for Housing).

1993-1998 Served five years on the Redmond Planning Commission, including one-year as Chair

Fall, 1997- Selected as an Executive Committee Member, Lake Washington School Modernization Program.

1994 Graduate of the Leadership Redmond Program

Served on the 1992 Redmond Governance Committee

Member of Sisters on the Eastside, a multi-culture women's group that works on issues of social justice.

Founding member of the Redmond Historical Society.

Together with husband Mark, hosted Five Community Forums for the City of Redmond.

Co-Blockwatch Captains – 1997-1999.

Precinct Committee Officer 1985-present

Served as Chair of the 48th District Democrats 1986-1988; prior was secretary, newsletter editor and Vice Chair for the 48th District

Voter Registrar, Elections Inspector in Redmond, 1998, 1999.

Please describe the duties of the office you seek. Which are the most important duties and why?

A directly elected Mayor has a unique role in local government. I believe the most important duties include:

1) Visionary Leadership -- a mayor needs to view the future as the present and listen to how their community wants to improve the quality of life for its residents in the decades to come. A Mayor needs to keep the long view on issues and continually strive for methods, processes and implementation of projects that will complement the envirnoment, fit stategically within the resources at hand and benefit residents of the community.

2)Fair administration - Implementing the decisions of the majority of the city council and move needed projects forward. An effective leader knows when the battle is over --- and they move the issues and projects forward as directed by the decisions made by the residents and the elected city council members.

3) The third duty that I think is important comes from the Mayor's Handbook published by the Municipal Research Center --"Use the dignity of the mayor's office to help your community get past contentious issues". I think this is very important in our democratic society --- building understanding, having the patience to wade through very difficult devisive issues --- this is the heart of the Mayor's job in our Redmond Community. With an eye and ear towards justice and fairness, this is a key duty of a mayor.

EDUCATION BACKGROUND SUMMARY

FOR PUBLICATION IN CANDIDATE EVALUATION REPORT

The Municipal League’s Candidate Evaluation Report is distributed to voters in print and/or on our website. It includes a summary of the candidate’s education. Please summarize your education in 120 characters (letters, punctuation, and space all combined). The League will delete material that exceeds the space limit by beginning with the last entry. Suggested order is (degree) (subject) (school) (year, if desired).

Note: If this question is left blank the League will not include education information in your candidate profile.

High School Graduate; Portland State University 1 year. Numerous classes: banking, insurance, leadership training.

CIVIC INVOLVEMENT SUMMARY

FOR PUBLICATION IN CANDIDATE EVALUATION REPORT

The Municipal League’s Candidate Evaluation Report also includes a summary of each candidate’s civic involvement. Please summarize your civic involvement in the space below. We will make every attempt to include the information in the Candidate Evaluation Report as submitted. Due to space restrictions in the Report, your response is limited to 500 characters (letters, punctuation, and spaces all combined). It is important that you list your involvement beginning with the most important and ending with the least important. If you exceed the length of response permitted, or if the League should find it necessary to shorten responses for publication purposes, deletions will be made beginning with the last item listed.

Note: This information will appear verbatim on the League’s Candidate Evaluation Report. If this question is left blank, the Municipal League will not include information on your civic involvement in the Report.

Check here if you would like the Municipal League to copy the first 500 characters from Question 4 to paste into this section.

Finished!

If at all possible, send your response to the Municipal League electronically as an attachment, or insert it into an e-mail message (rebecca@munileague.org). Mail and fax numbers are listed below. If the League has not contacted you to schedule an interview, please call the League office at your earliest convenience.

Don’t forget to send the following to the Municipal League: a resume, a photo, campaign literature, and, if you are an incumbent, constituent newsletters and other materials. Please use the check-off list on the cover sheet of this packet to indicate which items you have sent.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION AND GOOD LUCK IN YOUR CAMPAIGN!

THE MUNICIPAL LEAGUE OF KING COUNTY

Candidate Evaluation Coordinator: Rebecca Cooper

810 Third Avenue, Suite 224 Phone: 206-622-8333 Email: rebecca@munileague.org

Seattle, WA 98104-1614 Fax: 425-671-0506 Website: www.munileague.org