1. Name as it will appear on the ballot
|
First Name |
Middle Initial or Nick Name |
Last Name |
2. Office sought (include office, jurisdiction, position/district number):
3. Are you the incumbent? Yes No
4. How long have you resided in this district/city?
5. How long have you resided in King County?
|
32 years |
6. Is the office sought partisan or nonpartisan? Partisan Nonpartisan
CAMPAIGN CONTACTS
|
Campaign Name: |
Friends for Brian Seitz |
|
|
Address: |
|
|
|
City/State/Zip: |
|
|
|
Campaign Phone: |
|
|
|
Campaign Fax: |
|
|
|
Campaign E-mail: |
|
|
|
Campaign Website: |
|
|
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) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2. If you ran for public office but were not elected, please list those races below:
|
Office Title |
Year of Run |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
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 have lived in Redmond all my life minus almost two years in the Bay Area. In fact, my wife Andrea and I are raising our family in the house that I grew up in since age four. There are many qualities of Redmond that I enjoyed while growing up here, and I want to make sure those same qualities get even better for the new residents of Redmond and for those folks that are long-time residents. Redmond is at a critical point politically, and is facing many challenges such as responsibly managing growth, increasing transperancy in government and managing our strained budget. I think the citizens of Redmond will benefit from having different people with new perspectives to serve on the council. People that can bring forth different experiences and qualities, and new ways to problem solve, to help the city face the challenges set before them.
Being active in Redmond government has been a goal of mine for some time, and given this time of change, it seemed appropriate for me to step forward on behalf of the citizens of Redmond and declare my candidacy. I want to ensure that the qualities that make Redmond a great place to live are not whittled away. Redmond faces some big challenges in the short and long term, but with hard work, honesty and the involvement of the citizens there are ways we can protect Redmond's quality of life. Nobody moves to Redmond then decides they want the public services or the aesthetic aspects of the city to deteriorate. I want current and future citizens to have the same opportunities I did growing up here, and to do that we need to protect what is important to us.
I think my experience as a Redmond native, and having a passion for the community, in addition to my abililty to build consensus and foster collabortion between groups and stakeholders, postions me well to represent the citizens of Redmond successfully. |
2. Describe your most important personal characteristics or traits as they relate to the office you seek.
|
Hard worker - I have a bias for action and that is, in part, what prompted me to run for Redmond City Council. I have found quite often there are lots of people that want to be involved in making change, but just need that little spark of motivation to get them moving forward. I have enjoyed serving as that spark and motivating others to action, throughout my personal life and my career. I have found that the way to get people motivated simply begins with me rolling up my sleeves and getting down to work. When people see someone tackeling tough challenges with a positive attitude and an eye on success they are more likely to act. I think my work ethic will serve to benefit the other members of the Redmond city council as well as the citizens of Redmond.
Honest and open - I am a very forthcoming person and have found that being upfront with people during both good and bad times helps to combat false assumptions and ambiguity. There is a continued need to create more transperancy in Redmond city government. I believe my ability to be respectfully candid about our challenges will help Redmond government reach the level of transparency it needs to have more citizen and stakeholder involvement.
Collaborative nature - I have solid experience in bringing people together from disparate organizations to discuss issues, concerns and challenges. I enjoy taking a leadership role that strives for consensus. I believe my personality is collaborative in nature, to the extent that I am very comfortable with building rapport and gaining the trust of those I work with. Often building consensus means comprimise by all parties involved, including myself, and if the conditions are set in the context of the greater benefit to all, most of the time understanding can occur. I believe my ability to collaborate and build rapport will be most helpful on the council and in working with citizen groups of Redmond. |
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.
|
Accomplishment-Creating Blog Nation at Waggener Edstrom - In my role as Sr. Account Executive at Waggener Edstrom Worldwide, I took the initiative to open a forum on the issue of blogs, in an effort to educate myself and my peers on the persuasive power of "blogging", and its ability to spread valuable messages throughout a vast community. Before "blog" became a household term, I saw the importance of gaining understanding around this "new" phenomenon. The social movement behind blogging as a method of communication has made it a valuable tool in providing messages to various audiences. At the time, I understood that it would benefit not only me, but my team members as well, and the company as a whole, if we had a better understanding of how blogs function and might work to help us meet our client's business goals. By creating a forum to discuss the topic of blogs and their persuasive power, we were able to share knowledge, experience, and best practices for managing this new method of communication, and the challenges that came along with it. "Blog Nation" as we affectionately called the forum, started with a small handfull of employees, and grew to include a large percentage of the company, including several executives. Since those early days of "blogs", I have become a proficient blogger myself. This desire and ability to communicate with an open audience regarding social issues, has transferred into a passion to create a more transparent city government. Ultimately, my blog has become an effective way to motivate others toward more community participation and citizen action. Please visit my blog at www.electbrianseitz.com.
Contribution-Professional Advisor to CWU PRSSA: Mentoring PR students and future professionals of the PR community. By offering time and support, I am investing in the future of my professional field, but also in the overall community by helping recent graduates find jobs in their chosen field and becoming productive members of the community. It is important to share knowledge, help open doors of opportunity, and provide direction and support to those who can eventually in turn contribute to their community.
|
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.
|
City of Redmond Parks Department Employee 1993-1998 I had the privilige of working as a City of Remond park maintenance employee for five consecutive seasons. My experience as a Parks Department employee taught me many valuable things, such as environmental responsibility, in addition to professional responsibility, accountability and teamwork. I also came away with a stronger appreciation for community, and a greater understanding of hard work and return on your investment. This experience as a city employee also made me aware of the importance of sustaining quality of life in Redmond. To this day, I still look back on my work for the city with fondness, because I learned how to work well with others, and build rapport with my co-workers. I also realized how important it is to rely on each other to get a vast job accomplished. These same skills are transferrable to serving on the city council. First and foremost, to build rapport with various city departments, you need to have an appreciation for what each employee does and respect the value their role adds to city government, and be willing to listen to what their needs are. There are many comparisons that can be made between working for the city council and working for the parks department. For instance, whether on the parks department maintanence team or the city council, each member of the team has an important contribution to be made. Even if you disagree with the other members viewpoint, or their attempt at completing a task, you still need to respect their perspective. In addition, whether you are working for the parks or the city council, there may be some tasks that are uncomfortable or downright painful to complete, like cleaning public restrooms, or making major budget cuts, either way you know that it has to be done for the benefit of all.
Citizen of Redmond-30+years My role as citizen of Redmond has helped me acquire important skills that will benefit a city council member. For the last 15 years, I chose to reside in Redmond for many reasons. The most important reason includes an appreciation for the Redmond community and quality of life. This appreciation is what will make me an excellent council member. My decisions and actions will be rooted in preserving and making better all the benefits that I have had as a citizen of Redmond throughout my life. Not many other city council candidates can say they understand Redmond the way I do, and from the perspective of a Redmond native. The skills and perspective acquired as a citizen of Redmond for that length of time is valuable, and can benefit the discussions around any difficult decisions that are brought forth to the council members.
|
|
City council Member
The position of city council member includes representing the citizens of Redmond in decisions pertaining to Redmond government and community. Any decisions and discussion around city ordinances should be with the desires of the citizens in mind. My responsibility as council member will be to engage the citizens and listen to their needs and desires regarding their community and quality of life. I will represent the citizens and their needs on a daily basis and base my decisions on facts, research, and general public opinion whenever possible.
As city council member it is also my responsibility to explore all the options availalble and learn and research issues to make the best educated decisions possible. I would owe it to those I represent to take the time to learn issues in depth, and be able to speak to the issues and take into consideration the needs of all the stakeholders involved. |
EDUCATION BACKGROUND SUMMARY
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.
|
BA in Public Relations, Minor Advertising, Central Washington University; AA, Bellevue Community College |
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.
|
Five years with the City of Redmond Parks Department, seasonal maintenance aide
Public Relations Student Society of America Professional Advisor for Central Washington University
|
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.
Candidate Evaluation Coordinator: Jason Thibedeau
Seattle, WA 98104-1614 Fax: (425) 671-0506 Website: www.munileague.org