The first Kirkland City Council meeting of 2018 began with council members’ oath of office and the election of the Kirkland mayor and deputy mayor.

Council discussed and voted for the positions of mayor and deputy mayor at their Jan. 2 meeting. Amy Walen was re-elected as mayor over council member Dave Asher. Asher said he wanted consideration for the position as he is in the last half of his last term on council.

“Up until about 10 days ago I thought I had a commitment from you personally to support me for mayor,” Asher said to Walen. “Three terms really cuts the opportunity out for other people to participate and I would appreciate the consideration.”

Asher has served on the council since January 2000 and said he’s had previous opportunities to be considered for mayor but was too busy with creating a financial system at the University of Washington.

Walen has served on the council since 2010 and as mayor since 2014.

Asher found support from newly elected council member Tom Neir, while Penny Sweet, Jay Arnold and Jon Pascal vocally supported Walen.

“I’ve been serving on the council for one year and there’s one thing that I hear when I travel around and meet other elected officials throughout the state and region. They always say what a great mayor we have,” Pascal said to Walen. “I’m sure that council member Asher would do a good job as well but I’m just looking forward to another two years of your leadership.

The motion to nominate Asher for mayor failed with Neir and Asher voting yes and all other council members voting no. All council members voted yes to nominate Walen as mayor except Asher who voted neither yes nor no.

Arnold, who has served as deputy mayor since 2016, was re-elected to serve another two-year term alongside Walen.

The election followed the oaths of office, which didn’t include council members Asher and Toby Nixon, whose terms end in 2019.

Kirkland Municipal Court Judge Michael Lambo swore in newly elected council members Neir and Pascal and re-elected members Arnold, Sweet and Walen.

While Pascal is newly elected, he isn’t new to the council as he was appointed to Po. 2 when the seat was vacated in December 2016 by former council member Shelley Kloba. Neir was elected to the seat in November and Pascal elected to fill retired council member Doreen Marchione’s seat

After Lambo prompted the council members to raise their right hands, each one solemnly swore to “faithfully and impartially discharge the duties of (their) office as prescribed by law and to the best of (their) ability and that (they) will support and maintain the constitution of the state of Washington and of the United States of America.”