Fresh eyes, fresh minds, fresh perspectives.
That’s what the three new members of the the Auburn City Council expect to offer residents in January when they repeat their oaths of office and sit for their first official meeting.
Observers, including outgoing Councilmember Sue Singer and Mayor Pete Lewis have been taking the measure of Largo Wales, Wayne Osborne and John Holman, and what they’ve seen tells them that the new Council could shape up to be one of the best in recent memory.
Wales, Osborne and Holman officially were declared winners from the Nov. 8 general election. King County Elections posted the final results this week.
The three newcomers aren’t carbon copies of each other, but people of widely different backgrounds. Osborne is a retired air traffic controller, Holman a retired police officer, and the outspoken Wales a former Auburn school District administrator and the former executive director of ACAP Child and Family Services.
But all bring to the task strong business backgrounds and fresh energy.
“I’m impressed, and I feel really good about leaving it in their hands,” Singer said. “They do their homework, speak their minds and bring fresh points of view, which we’ve needed for a while. I think it’s great. I have been giving Largo stuff to read for nine months, just piles and piles of reading material. She reads it right away and asks questions and understands it. She’s so fast. She’s going to be really good.”
Singer worked on Wales’ campaign.
All three say they already work well together.
“Our greatest strength is that there are three of us, and we don’t have any personal agendas, any axes to grind and that’s exciting,” Wales said. “All three of us have really strong business minds. I’ve got a really substantial background in budget, and I know the community because of all my community service. John and Wayne both have incredible business backgrounds. I think that’s going to help us from an economic point of view but also when it comes to funding the arts, parks and other things. We will look at things from a real scale of balance.”
“I get along so well with Wayne Osborne and Largo Wales and the existing council members,” Holman said. “We have similar philosophies and build on each other’s strengths rather than playing political games and taking advantage of other’s weaknesses.”
“Just having different minds on the Council that are brand new to the process will bring new ideas and new concepts,” Osborne said. “I think having three fresh minds on the council will add to it. Every bit of new subject matter will be looked at differently. A lot of things have become rote for the old Council, they’ve been looking at it for so many years, and we’ll look at differently. It will cause the outcome to be different.”
Lewis agreed. “Here comes a group that’s solidified. They’re totally different, and they didn’t know each other that well when they started out. But during the campaigning they saw these common visions and common goals. I know all of them. Largo Wales worked on my first campaign for Council. One of my very first coffee meetings was at her house. Wayne Osborne I knew from his early days because he was an air traffic controller. John Holman I knew probably least of the three, but I knew his wife for 20 years. I’d seen these three develop through the campaign. It really is enthusiasm and eagerness to work.
“They understand the concept of a legislative body working together in a non-partisan atmosphere.
“They are just so excited about the training. They keep calling up and asking, ‘Can we do it now?'”
