PORT TOWNSEND — City Council member Deborah Stinson has been elected by her colleagues on the council to serve as mayor for a two-year period.
“It’s a leadership role,” she said Tuesday morning after the unanimous Monday night council vote.
“It felt good to have that vote of confidence from my peers.”
Councilwoman Catharine Robinson was unanimously elected deputy mayor.
Recently elected Amy Smith Howard stood out during the swearing-in, topped by a hairdo that fulfilled a promise she had made, she said.
Howard said she doesn’t plan to change her nameplate, which currently says “Amy Smith,” anytime soon.
Stinson said she felt comfortable in the position, adding that she’s had experience as chairwoman on other boards.
She predicted that 2016 would be a productive year for the city, with the first step being to re-examine the city’s strategic plan and determine if priorities need to be readjusted.
“There are a lot of things that aren’t on the list, such as dealing with short-term rentals and dog leash regulations,” she said.
“We will re-evaluate the plan and see if we need to add anything to the list.”
Port Townsend has a “weak mayor” system in which the role of mayor is largely ceremonial.
The mayor is selected by the seven-member council at the seating of each new council, City Clerk Joanna Sanders said at the beginning of the regular meeting. The next new council will be seated in 2018.
Terms expire at the end of 2017 for council members Robinson, Pamela Adams and Michele Sandoval.
Stinson, who was also sworn in to her second term on the council, was nominated by Robinson. There were no other nominations.
After a recess, Sandoval nominated Robinson to the deputy mayor position, which similarly was not contested and received unanimous support.
Stinson and Robert Gray were sworn in for a second term along with two newly elected members, Howard and David Faber.
The two assumed seats vacated by Mayor David King and Deputy Mayor Kris Nelson, both of whom declined to seek another council term.
Neither King nor Nelson attended Monday’s meeting.
Howard occupied the mayor’s chair prior to Stinson’s election because she assumed King’s seat on the council.
For the occasion, Howard arrived with a new hairstyle that turned her head into a “pineapple” by etching a series of diamonds into her dyed-yellow hair and styling the top to resemble leaves.
Upon declaring her candidacy, Howard, executive director of the Boiler Room, had promised staff that if she were elected, she would wear the pineapple hairdo to her first council meeting.
She also will appear in the same way at several subsequent meetings, according to Holly Varah, who created the hairstyle.
“It’s going to be there for a while,” Varah said.
Howard said she might dye her hair a darker “normal” color as it fades and will need the triangles to grow out a bit before she can start trimming it.
“The goal is to grow it out as gracefully as possible, which will be difficult,” she said.
Varah said dyeing the hair and carving the diamonds took about three hours.
“Amy approached me a few months ago and said she wanted to do this,” Varah said.
“I wanted to help her achieve her vision.”
Faber said he’d attended several meetings last year and “knew what was coming” but expects to face a learning curve.
“There will be some exploration as to how I will properly engage in topics and how to understand the details of an issue that has already been before council,” he said.
“I was a little nervous, but I’ve always faced my fears.”
Howard said ill health prevented her from enjoying the moment.
“I was very sick yesterday, so it was somewhat anticlimactic and stressful,” she said. “It was rough to have worked so hard for [the seat] and then to be sick for the first meeting.
“I am actually really looking forward to being fully present and engaged at next Monday’s meeting.”
The workshop meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. Monday in council chambers at historic City Hall, 540 Water St.
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Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
