Kirkland Mayor Amy Walen was re-elected to head the Kirkland City Council and Councilman Jay Arnold was elected deputy mayor during the Council’s first meeting of 2016 on Tuesday night at Kirkland City Hall. Both will serve two-year terms.

During the meeting Councilmembers Toby Nixon, Shelley Kloba and Dave Asher were sworn into office by Kirkland Municipal Judge Michael Lambo after winning re-election in November. Kloba begins her second term as a councilmember while Asher is the longest tenured councilmember, being first elected in 1999. Nixon was not challenged during the election.

In 2013, the Alliance of Eastside Agencies, a professional membership organization of human service providers, honored Walen as the Elected Official of the Year. In June of 2015, Association of Washington Cities (AWC) presented Mayor Walen with the Advocacy All-Star Award, celebrating her actions in advocating for Kirkland and cities around the state. Walen is the CFO of Ford and Hyundai of Kirkland.

Walen, who was selected unanimously, will serve her second term as mayor, while Arnold replaces Councilmember Penny Sweet, who chose to step back from the position.

“Penny has been a strong and effective voice for Kirkland,” Walen said. “Her common sense and straight talking approach has led us through many difficult conversations.”

Walen has regional representation on the Eastside Rail Corridor (ERC) Committee, Sound Cities Association (SCA) Board of Directors, SCA Economic Development Council, SCA Regional Policy Committee, Puget Sound Regional Council (PSRC) Executive Board and PSRC Transportation Policy Board, while Arnold serves with the Water Resource Inventory Area (WRIA 8), Eastside Transportation Partnership, Puget Sound Regional Council (PSRC) Transit Oriented Development, PSRC Growth Management Planning Board, King County Cities Climate Collaboration, and Eastside Rail Corridor (Alternate).

Arnold served on Kirkland’s Planning Commission from 2009 through 2013, including a term as Chair, before being elected to Council. In 2011, he was appointed to the Parks Funding Exploratory Committee that put together Kirkland’s 2012 Parks Levy. Arnold also co-chaired the successful campaign that won the support of voters, providing dedicated funding for Kirkland Parks.

The city of Kirkland has a council-manager form of government. The City Council is the legislative body and sets policy, passes local ordinances and approves the city budget. The city manager provides professional management of the city, overseeing a staff that enacts the Council’s policies.