EVERETT—At a Special Meeting held on January 18, the Community Transit Board of Directors voted unanimously to change its nine-member composition, transferring a voting seat from medium city category to large. Board leadership—Chair, Vice Chair, Secretary—is to be decided at its February 1 meeting.

The nine-member Community Transit Board composition is reviewed every four years, January 2024, and the next will be in January 2028; however, Board members are selected every two years, January 2024, and next will be in January 2026. One must be an elected official and selected by a component city or county to qualify to be on the Board.

In reviewing the composition of the Board, The City of Lake Stevens, with a population growth of 8,180 people due to annexation, is now classified as a large city from a medium city.

Large cities are classified with populations 35,000 or greater, medium cities are 15,000 to 35,000 in population, and a small city category is reserved for populations less than 15,000. Lake Stevens, with a current population of 41,260 now joins Marysville, Lynnwood, and Edmonds in the large city category.

This drove discussion by Board members to reduce the number of voting seats from two to one for small cities, another scenario, to reduce the number of County seats on the Board from two to one, and yet another scenario, to increase the number of voting seats for large cities at the expense of losing a voting seat from the medium city category.

A little spat ensued on which group would give up a seat for the large city category. Mukilteo Mayor Joe Marine defended the medium city position to maintain its three-seat voting share arguing that the County Council should reduce its voting share from two to one stating that South County is overrepresented. Snohomish County Council President Jared Mead defended the council’s position to maintain its two-seat voting share.

Mayor Christine Frizzell pointed out that with Snohomish County Councilmembers Jared Mead in District 4 representing Mill Creek and Strom Peterson in District 3 representing Lynnwood, Mukilteo, and Edmonds, leaves “three-fifths of the County unaccounted for on the Board.”

A motion carried, 7-6, that every [voting] category get at least two seats. Then a motion to add one voting seat to large cities, making its voting share from two to three passed unanimously. There was no change to the composition of alternates. Unlike Board positions, the maximum number of alternates are not board by state statutes.

All Board members were reappointed for two-year terms by their colleagues with Monroe Councilwoman Heather Fulcher now as a new alternate. The new composition of the Community Transit Board is as follows:

Snohomish County:

• Council Chair Jared Mead
• Council Member Strom Peterson
• Alternate: Council Member Megan Dunn

Large Cities:

• Lake Stevens City Council Member Kim Daughtry
• Lynnwood Mayor Christine Frizzell
• Marysville Mayor Jon Nehring
• Alternate: Edmonds City Council Member Susan Paine

Medium Cities:

• Arlington City Council Member Jan Schuette
• Mukilteo Mayor Joe Marine
• Alternates: Monroe City Council Member Heather Fulcher and Mountlake Terrace Mayor Kyoko Matsumoto Wright

Small Cities:

• Snohomish City Council Member Tom Merrill
• Stanwood Mayor Sid Roberts
• Alternate: Brier City Council Member Mike Gallagher

Lance Norton will continue as the board’s non-voting labor representative.