The Municipal League of King County

810 Third Avenue, Suite 224

Seattle, WA 98104

(206) 264-1070 cec@munileague.org

2007 Board of Trustees

Bruce Carter, Chair
Judge Pro Tem, Seattle Municipal Court

Robert Klein, Vice-Chair
Short Cressman & Burgess PLLC

Norma Jean Hanson, Secretary
Norma Jean Hanson Paralegal Services

Sandra Driscoll, Treasurer
City Attorney (ret.)

 

Angela Avery, Community Volunteer

Dan Berger, Municipal Attorney

Jill D. Bowman, Stoel Rives LLP

Bill Breitenstein, Financial Executive (ret.)

David Brentlinger, Weyerhaeuser Realty Investors

Steve Call, Cascade Water Alliance

Mary Gates, Consultant

Albert Israel, Mass Mutual Financial Group

Rachel Jackson, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Chris Johnson, Office of the Attorney General, WA State

Mark Koenig, Consultant

Rick Lewis, Intel

Steve Marshall

Eric B. Martin, Davis Wright Tremaine

Bradley Meacham, Microsoft

Dan McDonald, MWH Americas

Kristen Peterson, Washington State Hospital Association

Kathy Putt, Comcast

Ramsey Ramerman, Foster Pepper

R. Todd Slind, CH2MHill

Will Smith, T-Mobile

John Spady, Dick’s Drive-In

Lucy Steers

Gary Strannigan, Safeco

Harold Taniguchi, King County Department of Transportation

Michael Teter, Perkins Coie, LLP

Wes Uhlman, Wes Uhlman & Associates

Jason Van Nort, Puget Sound Energy

Jen Watkins

Rodney G. Wendt, Koegen Edwards LLP

Rich White, Boeing

Nick Williamson, Encrypted Key Technologies

 

2007 CANDIDATE QUESTIONNAIRE
FOR NON-JUDICIAL CANDIDATES

The Municipal League of King County requests every candidate who participates in the candidate evaluation process to submit background information prior to his/her interview with a candidate evaluation committee.  The questionnaire is the basis of the League’s research and interview process.  The League’s ratings are non-partisan; they are based on standards of Involvement, Effectiveness, Character, and Knowledge, all of which have been developed and refined over the past 90 years.

 

A printed version of the questionnaire is available for candidates who prefer to use the traditional format.  To obtain a hard copy, please contact the League office.  A copy of this questionnaire will be provided to Candidate Evaluation Committee members to help them prepare for your interview.  Candidate responses, except the confidential section, will be available to the general public at the League website. 

 

The Municipal League requests the following materials from candidates.  Please check to make certain you have sent in your:

 

   Candidate Questionnaire

           Sent by:       Email             US Mail           Fax            Not Sending

   Resume (education, employment, and professional activities)

           Sent by:       Email             US Mail           Fax            Not Sending

             Check here if you DO NOT want your resume posted on the Municipal

                League website

   Campaign Materials

           Sent by:       Email             US Mail           Fax            Not Sending

   Constituent Newsletters and other publications

           Sent by:       Email             US Mail           Fax            Not Sending

   Photograph

           Sent by:       Email             US Mail           Fax            Not Sending

 

Note: Electronically submitted questionnaires are strongly preferred. All materials can be emailed to cec@munileague.org.  They can be processed and made available on-line far more rapidly than handwritten or typed submissions.

 

For non-electronic submissions, please print clearly and legibly and return the application as soon as possible in order to allow the committee the greatest amount of time to prepare a complete report on your skills and experience.

We request that you return the Candidate Questionnaire

by June 22, 2007

 

If you have not yet been contacted to schedule an interview, or if you have questions about the candidate evaluation program, please contact the League office at 206-264-1070.

 

If you have a disability and require accommodation to participate in the candidate evaluation process, please contact the CEC Coordinator at the League office.

 


2007 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

Michele

E.

Petitti

 

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

 

City of Sammamish Council, Position # 2

 

3.   Are you the incumbent?                  Yes              No

 

 

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

 

20 plus years

 

5.   How long have you resided in King County?

 

20 plus years

 

6.   Is the office sought partisan or nonpartisan?         Partisan      Nonpartisan         

                                                                                                                       

7.   If partisan, please indicate party:       

 

CAMPAIGN CONTACTS

 

 

Campaign Name:

 

Michele Petitti

 

Address:

 

24017 SE 18th Place

 

City/State/Zip:

 

Sammamish, WA. 98075

 

Campaign Phone:

 

(425) 392-9208

 

 

Campaign Fax:

 

     

 

 

Campaign E-mail:

 

petittimic@msn.com

 

 

Campaign Website:

 

     

 

 

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)

Sammamish City Council

 

Elective

 

Since 2001

 

Mayor, Deputy Mayor

 

Puget Sound Regional Council Executive Board- Suburban Cities Association Rep. 

 

Appointed

 

2004- Present

 

     

 

Suburban Cities Association Board

 

Appointed

 

2007-present

 

     

 

 

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

 

Office Title

Year of Run

     

 

     

 

     

 

     

 

     

 

     

 


 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:

 

 

 

 

 

 

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 am seeking re-election to the Sammamish City Council to continue the work of building a world class city that our residents can be proud to make their home.   As I look back on the last six years, there is much to celebrate in our accomplishments. We have created a very liveable and walkable, family-friendly community.  We have built a 40,000 square foot city hall with  a wonderful 20 acre park that includes a regionally recognized skatepark.  We just cut the ribbon on another 12 acre park in the west part of our city.  We have built and are building several miles of sidewalks.  We have improved roadways, and gotten new growth to pay it's way with our innovative road impact fees that the whole other cities pans to immulate.  Councilwoman, Kathy Huckabay and myself came up with the idea to talk to the school districts about improving school athletic fields so they could be used for more hours, saving the city from having to purchase additional land. This idea turned out to be a great win/win for our community. Eastlake High School now has a three acre community sports complex built with city funds. We also improved a five acre site at Skyline high school with all weather sports fields and lighting.  Plans are in the works to also improve the fields at Eastside Catholic HIgh school, now under construction in our city.  These sports fields have saved our families from having to commute off the plateau into Redmond and Issaquah for after school activities. 

 

Our financial house is in order and our tax rate per $1,000 is less than it would be if we were still under county rule.  A wonderful new Town Center is starting to take shape that will be sensitive to it's environment.   Our goal is to provide 1300-2000 new housing units here and create a 10% affordable housing goal.  New services will made available to our citizens.  The city is looking at partnerships with the YMCA for a swimming pool/community  facility, the Boys and Girls Club to create a teen center and the King County Library to build a 20,000 square foot new library next door to city hall.  All in all, we have put back into Sammamish over $100,000 million dollars in infrastructure investment.   We have been good stewards of our citizens taxes.  We have a good working relationship with our neighboring cities and are well-respected in the region.  I have worked hard to build these relationships with our neighbors and in the region.  I would like to continue in a leadership role and keep moving our city into the future.  Thank you.   

 


 

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

 

My most important personal characteristics are creative thinking, collaboration and a great sense of where our real community is on a topic.  Most of the public comment we hear at meetings tends to be from the two extremes.  I have a good sense about where middle ground is and what is best for our community as a whole.  I like moving us forward with confidence and people are willing to follow.   I can also back down when the timing is off.  For example, we tabled our plans to put forth a park bond this summer because we just didn't have enough information to make a good plan.  We needed more time to work with our community  partners to see what settles out before asking  the community to step up. 

 

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 am most proud of helping to get a Rotary Club going in Sammamish.  The club is going on it's fourth year now and we have about 45 active members.   Anita Boser and  I came up with our signature fund raising idea….The Nightmare at Beaver Lake.  It is a haunted park for the week before Halloween.  In three years the event has grown into a monster of a project….last year we had over 8500 attendees! We now contract with a production company to help us put on the event.   The idea for the fund raiser was to have an event for our families, a place where people could volunteer and the club could raise funds to give back to the community.  We have over 100 volunteers each night of the event, we got the DECA clubs involved to learn marketing skills by running the concession stands and we net enough funds to give $10,000 a year in scholarships and support many other communty needs.


 

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.

 

Myself and Sharon Steinbis created the Sammamish Saddle Club, a non-profit eductional club to advance best practices and environmentally sensitive horse keeping in our city. We also work on trail advocacy  with the city and county for trail preservation and equestrian access into regional areas.  We advanced the idea of creating a "Bridle Trails" community as part of our city plans.

 

I have served on the board of Good Samaritan Church during a capital campaign and a new pastor search.

 

I was a Girl Scout  troop leader when my children were in elementary school.

 

I earned a PTSA Golden Acorn award  for the Issaquah School District for my work as the lead Art Docent coordinator at Sunny Hills Elementary School.

 

I served on the Friends of Youth Issaquah Advisory Board for several years.

 

 

I now work for Friends of Youth as their Donor Relationship Officer.  I started with them in January of 2007. 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

The duties of a council person are to be present at meetings and to read and understand the materials and make good decisions for the citizens of the city. 

 

Duties include being available to meet with and talk with citizens on various topics.

It is important to be an educator about how "things work" and  let people know when they can be most effective in bringing their ideas forward. 

 

It is important to have good relations with our neighboring cities and with King County.

 

It is important to be a good steward of public funds and make sure we remain financially sound. 


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.

 

I have a MBA in Marketing from Suffolk University in Boston, MA.

 

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 (cec@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:  Jason Thibedeau

 

810 Third Avenue, Suite 224                 Phone: (206) 264-1070                      Email: cec@munileague.org

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