Kent Mayor Suzette Cooke and former Seattle Mayor Norm Rice have been appointed as co-chairs of a committee to help the Metropolitan King County Council select an interim county executive.
“I’m quite honored to be selected,” Cooke said at the Kent City Council meeting Tuesday when she announced her appointment.
Ron Sims, the current county executive, has been tapped by President Barack Obama to be his deputy secretary of housing and urban development. Sims will resign his current post once the U.S. Senate confirms his nomination. Once Sims leaves his position, Kirk Triplett, chief of staff to Sims, will fill the post until the Council picks a replacement.
Cooke and Rice are helming a 16-member committee that will evaluate candidates for that several-month position. The interim executive will serve until voters elect a new executive in November.
The committee’s role in the selection process is a critical one, according to members of the County Council.
“We need an open and transparent process to review candidates for interim executive,” said County Councilwoman Jane Hague, in a media release. “This panel will thoroughly evaluate each candidate and provide the Council with valuable recommendations. This will ultimately help us to choose the best person to manage county government free of politics.”
Each County Councilmember can nominate up to two people to replace Sims. Within a week after Sims departs his office, the committee will interview candidates and recommend to the Council anywhere from two to five candidates.
Committee members were selected to represent the economic, geographic and ethnic diversity of the county.
They are: Becky Cox, Joan Crooks, Adrian Diaz, David Freiboth, Beretta Gomillion, Nancy Hutto, Sharon Maeda, Ted Choi Tam, Bob Wallace, and Tayloe Washburn.
The panel also includes four elected county officials. They are Sheriff Sue Rahr, Prosecuting Attorney Dan Satterberg, Superior Court Presiding Judge Bruce Hilyer and District Court Presiding Judge Barbara Linde.
The Suburban Cities Association, a nonprofit group that represents 37 King County cities, nominated Cooke for the position.
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