Long-time Sammamish Councilmember Don Gerend was recently elected the 2013 Treasurer of the Sound Cities Association, which represents 35 cities in King County and provides a regional voice for nearly one million people.

“SCA gives the City of Sammamish and our other members cities a powerful regional voice, provides members an opportunity to connect and network, and offers tremendous tools to learn what other cities are doing,” said Deanna Dawson, SCA Executive Director.

SCA provides a voice for King County cities under 150,000 people in population through leadership in areas such as economic and community development, transportation, land use, health, government operations, the environment, education, public safety, social welfare and other public policy issues.

SCA, which was formerly known as the Suburban Cities Association, was established more than 40 years ago to help King County cities act locally and partner regionally to create vital and thriving communities through advocacy, education, leadership, mutual support and networking.

“Our county is no longer dozens of bedroom communities surrounding a single city, but a network of bustling urban centers that together define a larger metro area and regional economy, and this new name reflects that evolution,” said King County Executive Dow Constantine. “The new name also reflects a new spirit of partnership between the cities and the county. We are united in advocating as one region for our economy and quality of life.”

SCA also announced it has launched a new website.

“The new website provides a level of functionality that directly benefits our members and allows the public to learn more about our issues and organization,” Dawson said. “For the public, SCA’s website provides the latest news on member cities, the opportunity to review current issues or policy positions and a resource library.”