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

Kevin

J.

Grossman

 

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

 

City Council, Shoreline, Position #4

 

3.   Are you the incumbent?                  Yes              

 

 

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

 

12 years

 

5.   How long have you resided in King County?

 

20 years

 

6.   Is the office sought partisan or nonpartisan?         Nonpartisan         

                                                                                                                       

7.   If partisan, please indicate party:       

 

CAMPAIGN CONTACTS

 

Campaign Name:

Campaign to Re-Elect Kevin Grossman

 

Address:

 

2116 N. 190th St.

 

City/State/Zip:

 

Shoreline, WA 98133

 

Campaign Phone:

 

206.367.1603

 

 

Campaign Fax:

 

     

 

 

Campaign E-mail:

 

kevin@kevingrossman.com

 

 

Campaign Website:

 

http://www.kevingrossman.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)

Shoreline City Council, Pos. #4

 

Elected

 

1/1/2000-12/31/2003

 

Deputy Mayor

 

Shoreline Community College Trustee

 

Governor Appointment

 

1997-2002

 

Chaired

 

     

 

     

 

     

 

     

 

 

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

 

Office Title

Year of Run

Shoreline City Council

 

1997

 

     

 

     

 


 


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 believe strongly that the primary job of elected officials is to make decisions that best serve the future generations of their communities. I have worked to promote the renewal of Aurora, a dangerous and unsightly core area of Shoreline, which will serve our community with a safer, more attractive corridor that will additionally increase property values and sales tax revenues by attracting businesses that ehanace services and offerings.  I have supported the enhancement and expansion of our parks, providing both active and passive opportunities for people to enjoy beautiful open spaces and gain the benefits of healthy community involvement.  I have promoted sound fiscal policy that has allowed Shoreline to be in better shape than our surrounding communities, while still providing quality core services. 

 

Listening to our neighbors, business and other stakeholders is the key.  I have always promoted collaboration with the citizens, businesses and impacted government agencies, facilitating successful projects in Shoreilne - improving the quality of life in Shoreline.  Approximately 90% of the funding for Phase I of the Aurora improvement plan is money through King County, Washington DOT and the Federal Highway Administration - a result of years of inclusive planning processes and community driven objectives done cooperatively with the goals of the funding agencies.  Our interurban trail, which is breaking ground in mid-August of this year, is another collaboration of resources - City Light owns the ground, funding is provided by Shoreline, King County and Federal capital sources.  One final example is the Paramount Park project.  Shoreline Schools has a former elementary school site that was fallow that the City improved, providing two baseball fields, a children's playground, a walking trail around the perimeter and a skate park.

 

My track record of involvement in OUR community for OUR needs and creating the future for OUR future residents is what it's all about.  I believe strongly that "playing well with others" is the key to achieving these objectives.

 


 

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

 

Process skills.

 I see that my ability to inquire, listen, clairy, synthesize, plan, compromise, collaborate and impliment is what it takes to get things done.  Allowing the process to get sideracked by some individuals idea of the perfect solution to the disadvantage of the majority of people and long range community needs is inappropriate.  We need to focus on getting projects completed for our communities, not argue for years and litigate.

 

Leadership skills. 

As Board President for the Center for Human Services, I was able to lead the board and  team through a difficult reorganization to preserve the financial integrity and sustainability of the organization.  We kept it from bankrupcy and it is now healty and continuing to provide needed services to the communities it serves.

As Chair of the Legislative Committee for the Trustees Association of Community and Technical Colleges, I distributed the meeting around the state, promoting participation and providing a broader perspective to the legislation agenda and advocacy role for TACTC.

As Chair of the Trustees of Shoreline Community College I led the Trustees through many challenging times, including the hiring of a new President and the process of getting the first integrated online registration and book ordering system in the community college system fully working.

 

Technical skills.

My business and education background (MBA, UW) provide me with tools to ask good questions and analyze both financial as well as logistical, legal and political issues to contribute to and guide the governing bodies I am a part of.  It helps in getting groups past information overload to a framework for decision making and forward progress.

 

 

 

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. 

 

Paramount Park - the land is owned by the School District, the drainage was an environmental problem, the community wanted it cleaned up.  We took City capital with some grants and turned this forgotten parcel into a great skate park, ball fields, walking trail, play area and restroom facilities, with improved storm water management and better parking as well.

 

Budget - we have consistently been prudent in our operating budget while holding up the bar for our department heads on service delivery, and been successful at keeping the City fiscally sound while still getting good marks from Citizens regarding our service delivery.

 

Aurora Project - it has taken years of focus on the horizon to keep us moving through, learning, compromising and finding new funding sources to get the renovation of this blighted section of town ready to be renovated.  WIth the approval by the Federal Highway Administration of our FONSI application, we are over yet another substantial hurdle toward providing this citizen demanded renewal of Aurora.

 


 

 

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.

 

Shoreline Community College Foundation Board Member

King County Economic Development Council Board Member

Partnership for Applied Learning - Shoreline, past Chair

SchoolWork Consortia, Board Member

Shoreline Community College Trustee, former Chair and audit Committee

Echo Lake Neighborhood, former Chair

Center for Human Services Board, former President and former Treasurer

Echo Lake PTA Legislative representative

Trustees Association of Community and Technical Colleges, Washington, Committee Chair

Deputy Mayor, City of Shoreline

co_Chair, SeaShore Transportation Committee

Education Committee, Building Owners and Managers Association

 

 

 

 

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

 

Leadership of policy development for the operational and capital direction for the City.

 

I believe that providing the perspective of what we believe is best for the long run for Shoreline is the core framework for our decision making.  The perspective needs to be brought to our efforts to:

Direct the City Manger and staff in services delivered - level of and breadth of services for each department

Direct the philosophical direction of staff in their day to day decision making - such as whether to directionally work with other agencies in a win-win fashion or to generally advocate for what Shoreline needs to the excluison of regional or state wide issues (I choose broad collaboration with the expectation that in the long run we get more for the City than being adversarial - our past years success in securing partnering money for parks, trails and arterial enhancements supports the notion that this direction produces results).

Oversee the fiscal soundness of the organization - we have a great CFO and an appropriately cautios approach to budgetting  that has allowed us to increase our capital reserves, allowing us the capacity to do parks enhancements and road maintenance despite substantial revenue decreases this year.


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.

 

MBA, University of Washington

 

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