At its first meeting of the new decade on Jan. 5, Bothell City Council re-elected Mayor Mark Lamb in a 4-3 vote.
Council also unanimously tabbed Councilman Joshua Freed as deputy mayor, replacing former Deputy Mayor Sandy Guinn, who lost a November bid for re-election to council.
The evening also saw the swearing in of Guinn’s council successor, Tom Agnew.
Also sworn in by Bothell Municipal Judge Michelle Gehlsen were re-elected councilmembers Del Spivey, Freed and Patrick Ewing.
Along with Agnew, voters handed each a four-year council term ending in 2013.
This will be Lamb’s third term as Bothell mayor. Both he and Freed will serve two-year terms ending Dec. 31, 2011. Lamb was challenged for the leadership of the council by Ewing, who nominated himself for mayor and won the support of Agnew and Councilwoman Tris Samberg
“I am honored to be re-elected mayor and proud to have led a council that cut taxes, set aside a 20-percent reserve that helped improve our bond rating while working with our citizens to create an exciting vision for the revitalization and rebuilding of our downtown core,” Lamb said.
“In these next two years, I look forward to executing that vision for our downtown and demonstrating that government can efficiently and effectively provide excellent services in difficult times without increasing the tax burden on its citizens.”
Bothell uses a city manager form of government, and while voters elect councilmembers, the mayor is then chosen by the council. The mayor largely serves as the president of council, helping set the council agenda, name committee members and so on. Appointed by council, a city manager handles the day-to-day running of the city.
In other council business:
• At Samberg’s request, council is set to again take up the issue of changing its rules regarding perceived vicious dogs in the city.
In early October, in the wake of an alleged attack by a pit bull that led to the death of another dog, council’s safety committee began looking at revising Bothell’s laws regarding vicious dogs. Officials have not publicly revisited the issue since. According to city attorney Joe Beck, one reason for any delay has been questions over who is going to provide the city with animal-control services in the future.
Bothell currently contracts with King County for animal services. But the county announced sometime ago the impending closure of its animal shelter. At one point, the county also was considering the total elimination of all animal-control operations as a cost-cutting measure.
Deputy City Manager Steve Anderson said city staffers have been studying the question of animal control for roughly 90 days. He added new King County Executive Dow Constantine is floating a proposal that would keep the county kennel operating longer than was previously planned. The final decision is probably in the hands of the King County Council and it is not clear when it might take any action.
In the meantime, Beck said there are a number of small measures Bothell can take in regard to controlling so-called vicious dogs. Samberg asked that the issue go before council next month, with a council safety committee meeting taking up the question once more between now and then.
The alleged attack sparking council to act took place last summer.
A resident of 241st Street Southeast, Diana Selin was walking her dog Ty on Aug. 3 when, according to various reports, a neighbor’s pit bull attacked Selin’s dog. Selin tried to pull the animals apart, but with little success.
Ty died during surgery at a Bothell animal hospital. The pit bull was destroyed.
