Position Statement of

Note: APA by–laws were amended about eight years ago to restrict this seat to planning commissioners. Consequently, the candidates are not professional planners.

Position Statement:

Planning Commissioner, Bellevue, Washington, 1993 to present, (past vice chair and chair); member APA Planning Officials Advisory Committee 1998 to present.

Serving as a planning commissioner since 1992 has intensified my belief that achieving positive futures for our communities and counties requires team efforts--citizens, appointed and elected officials, and professional planners sharing information, learning, and working together. I support the same important emphasis within APA. While serving on the Planning Officials Advisory Committee I have worked to champion commissioners, their value and importance, their education and their role within the organization. Reaching, recruiting, and retaining a diversified membership is critical to the organization’s success.

The role of the planning commissioner is a difficult one. We are neither fish nor fowl. Predominately we are not degree-carrying planners knowing proper planning terminology and theories; nor are we the average person who is either blissfully content with the status quo of unregulated sprawl or who wants everything totally regulated so that property is developed or not, preserved or not, protected or not, according to his own idea of right and wrong. For us to be effective in our part of the process of “Making Great Communities Happen,” our decisions must be based upon knowledge and not conjecture, ethical standards and fairness and not conflicts of interest, understanding of principles and not whimsical fads. That means education--basic and general as well as the latest in technical knowledge and computer-based information

Educated commissioner receive the respect of the public, elected officials, and staff and further the cause of planning. The variety of planning commissioner training opportunities and materials at both APA chapter and national levels are essential and of great value and importance. The webcast training scheduled for 2002 will offer another outstanding convenient opportunity for commissioner training at a modest fee. This type of training should be expanded and perfected not only for the planning commissioners, but for the continuing education of all APA members. For members’ accessibility, education offered in many different styles and venues should continue to be a goal for APA.

The APA Board of Directors seat for a planning commissioner brings the citizen planner perspective to the organization’s decision making process. Making APA the best it can be for all members is as important to me as making my community the best it can be for all citizens both now and for the future.