Copyright Everett Herald
By The Herald Editorial Board While Snohomish County voters will see County Council races for representation of about three-fifths of Snohomish County’s approximately 865,000 residents in the Nov. 4 election, voters for only one district have a choice to make. Incumbents for District 1 and District 4 are running unopposed this year for their four-year terms. Members of the county council are paid about $151,500 annually. The council chair, currently Nehring, is paid about $166,600. District 1 Republican Nate Nehring is running for re-election to his third and final consecutive term on the council. District 4 Democrat Jared Mead is running for re-election to a second full term on the council. District 5 Republican Sam Low is running for re-election to his third and final four-year term on the council, and is challenged by Democrat Kelli Johnson. District 5 encompasses much of the county’s southeastern regions, and includes the cities and communities of Lake Stevens, Snohomish, Monroe, East Silver Lake, Sultan, Gold Bar, Maltby, Clearview, Index and unincorporated areas. Low has served on the council since winning election in 2016 to complete an unexpired term, then winning full terms in 2017 and 2021. The county’s term-limit rule makes this his final run for a full consecutive county council term. Low, since 2023, also has served as a state representative for the 39th Legislative District. Prior to his first election to the county council, he served on the Lake Stevens City Council. He has also served as chair of both the state Transportation Improvement Board and state Traffic Safety Commission, and on the Puget Sound Regional Council’s executive committee, the county health district and North Sound Behavioral Health Board. He has a master’s in organizational leadership. Johnson, a registered nurse at Providence Medical Center Everett’s emergency room, is making her first run for public office, but in recent years has been working in political spheres advocating for support at the city and county level and drafting legislation at the state level to improve working conditions for medical staff, including staffing requirements. Johnson also was a member of her union’s bargaining team, leading to a successful contract with hospital management. Johnson said she’s running for the county council out of the same sense of public service behind her nursing career and her concerns about how the residents of a particular district are represented, particularly when lobbyists are representing other priorities. Expanding her concern beyond health care, Johnson said her conversations with residents have focused attention on issues of affordable housing and development and use of land and the county’s budget and taxes. On housing and related environmental and economic issues, Johnson said she agrees with the need to increase the availability of affordable housing but she is not convinced that recent steps at the state and county level have done much to advance that goal, noting that the housing most recently built — going for more than $1 million — cannot be considered affordable for most seeking homes in the county. Johnson said she wants to see effort by the council to streamline permitting and encourage and require builders to provide more housing accessible to middle- and low-income families, but also wants to see the county pursue legislation to encourage more family-wage jobs that can afford that housing. Noting a recent issue with overtime costs among some county departments, particularly corrections, Johnson said the solution will require more than simply telling departments to limit that overtime; there’s a deeper problem, she said, with attracting and retaining law enforcement employees, which is forcing the use of more OT hours. Johnson doesn’t see a solution in increasing revenue with any kind of property tax increase, noting increased housing costs and taxes for those on fixed or low to moderate incomes. Building more affordable homes and housing with affordable rents, she said, which would be assessed at lower values, can help ease those costs for many families. A lot of other steps will have to be taken before consideration of a property tax increase, she said. If she wins the council seat, Johnson said, she would suspend her nursing career. Noting the work required of her as a nurse as she sought staffing legislation, Johnson said she would want to focus her time on her county council job. Low remains confident that he is handling his responsibilities for both the county council and the Legislature well. Until this summer, he said, during his three years of work as a state legislator, he had not missed a county council vote. This August he did miss two county council votes and a resolution on one day, but otherwise has been able to handle the work load of both jobs and believes that the dual representation has served both constituencies well. As an example, he said, he was able to secure state funding and a grant for the county for the Lake Stevens Food Bank. As well, that dual representation has served constituents in his two districts for the county’s transportation needs, including setting as state priorities constructions projects for Highway 522, Highway 9 and U.S. 2 and its trestle connecting Everett and east county communities. With funding in question earlier this year for Highway 522, Low said, he was able to draw from his familiarity with the project and residents’ needs to advocate to ensure its funding, as he was for $142 million in funding for Highway 9’s Snohomish River Bridge. While there was concern earlier this summer regarding department cost overruns, particularly for overtime costs, Low said the council has been able to address those concerns by working with department heads to better control those costs. Allowing those overruns, he said, would have required a 15 percent increase in property taxes, a move no one on the council would want to make, even if state law allowed. Low said he doesn’t expect major adjustments to the county’s two-year budget, except for some additional funding for the charter review committee that will meet next year to consider amendments to the charter, a process that is undertaken every 10 years. The county, like all local governments, is facing increasing costs for a range of needs for employee wages and benefits and the county’s own costs for insurance, equipment, supplies and more, but has been careful about setting aside reserves and looking for efficiencies. There will be tough decisions ahead, he said, but the county is in a good position to address those. Low said he’s also supportive of the county’s direction on balancing affordable housing and concerns over the environment and growth management, each with goals that can affect the other. Environmental and growth constraints can increase housing costs, he said, but are policies with general support among the public. Regarding issues of homelessness, Low said work is progressing on the county’s renovation of two hotels in the Everett and Edmonds areas for housing with access to supportive services. When first considered, he said, he was critical of the proposal and still believes it could have been accomplished cheaper and more quickly if built new, but he is supportive of the nonprofit partners that the county is working with once the housing is open. While lacking in previous formal experience in local government, Johnson has proved her ability for representing a constituency and pressing for legislation that provides needed policy and reforms. If unsuccessful in her bid for the county council, this should not be her only run for public office. Low, during his more than two terms on the county council has developed a good working relationship with his fellow council members, regardless of party. While its decisions are not always unanimous, the county council is an example of bipartisan representation and good governance, and Low has been part of that. As well, Low has been key to advancement of his priorities, in particular to his district’s and the county’s transportation needs, and has worked with local and state officials to assure necessary funding. As to his service in two elected positions, Low was upfront about his missed votes on the council, but at the same time he has demonstrated he can largely meet the responsibilities of both jobs, with each helping to inform decisions for the other. Low deserves a third term on the council. General election Voters should have received ballots and local and state voters’ guides in the mail. An online voter’s guide is available at tinyurl.com/SnoCoVotersGuide2025. A full list of The Herald Editorial Board’s endorsements will be published and be available online on Oct. 25. More information on the Nov. 4 election, registering to vote, ballot drop box locations and more is available at tinyurl.com/SnoCoElex.
