SEQUIM — Two new members have joined the City Council.
One of them is a voting member.
Bob Lake, 61, of Sequim was selected Monday night to fill the seat vacated by the resignation of Ken Hays.
A new position — that of student liaison — was created for Wendell Lorenzen, 18, an applicant for the council seat.
Lorenzen will sit with the council and may take part in discussions of issues the council considers but does not have a vote, Mayor Candace Pratt said shortly before she turned the gavel over to the new mayor.
New mayor
Councilman Dennis Smith was selected mayor after Pratt declined to be considered for the position.
Councilman Ted Miller was selected deputy mayor.
The board interviewed four candidates for the vacant council position.
Hays resigned Dec. 14, a month after he was re-elected to the position, having run unopposed in the Nov. 3 general election.
Hays, who had served on the City Council since 2008 and was mayor from 2010-13, said he wanted to spend more time with his family.
Applicants for the position were Lake; Lorenzen; Brandon Janisse, 30; and Roger Wiseman, 72.
Lake, a retired safety engineer, has lived in Sequim since May 2014 after spending three years in New Zealand.
He said he has also lived in Boston and in Michigan, and has been active in local and national politics.
“I’ve been on lots of different boards, just not a City Council,” he said.
He has a master’s in business administration, was a member of a national board for safety engineers, is a current member of the city Parks and Recreation Board and is a volunteer for the Peninsula Trails Coalition.
Lake will resign from the parks board, and the city is seeking a new member of that body.
As a former safety engineer, Lake said he knows how to evaluate risks and benefits, and make decisions based on the best possible decision for the city, in both economic and human terms.
While Lorenzen was not selected for the vacant council position, he was offered and accepted a position as youth liaison on the board through the end of the school year.
When the council asked the candidates why they did not run for election in 2015, Lorenzen said he was not yet old enough at the time of filing.
Recently turned 18
A senior at Sequim High School, Lorenzen turned 18 in mid-November. He said he was disappointed to be unable to vote in the Nov. 3 general election.
“I feel my age group isn’t being represented. It’s resulting in low voter turnout for young people,” said Lorenzen, whose mother, Susan Lorenzen, was a city councilwoman from 2008 through 2011.
“I want to be a voice for the under-50 crowd in Sequim,” the applicant said.
He demonstrated his understanding of the city’s structure when asked about the council’s 2016 goals.
The council’s goals were comprehensive and achievable, and the council’s focus on the city’s streets and sidewalks is particularly important, Lorenzen said.
“They’re great goals,” he said.
Lorenzen is an internationally ranked skyrunner, having taken part in long-distance footraces held at high elevations.
He is also an Eagle Scout, plays trombone in the Sequim High jazz ensemble and is a member of the school’s vocal ensemble.
Before making its selection, council members asked Lorenzen what his plans are after high school and if he had planned to take time off from classes to attend City Council retreats, workshops and training out of the area.
Lorenzen said he planned to remain in Sequim through the end of the council seat’s term Dec. 31, 2017, and had arranged to take time off as needed for city business.
He plans to earn an associate degree at Peninsula College.
If he were selected, he said that when his term ended, he would take part in a two-year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, then attend the University of Northern Colorado.
Backgrounds
Janisse is a Sequim High alumni and U.S. Army veteran who served in Iraq and earned a degree in political science from Kaplan University.
He has run for council in the past two elections.
In 2015, he was defeated by Pam Leonard-Ray and in 2013 by Miller.
Wiseman described himself during the interviews as a good collaborator, a “research and policy wonk.”
When asked why he had not run for election in 2015, he said he was out of town during much of the filing period.
Janisse and Wiseman were encouraged to join the city’s parks and recreation board or the planning commission.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arice@peninsuladailynews.com.
