Lindsey Walsh has been appointed to a fill a vacancy on the Issaquah City Council.

Last November’s election of former Issaquah City Councilmember Bill Ramos to represent the 5th Legislative District left a vacant council seat going into 2019. The city council appointed Lindsey Walsh to council position No. 4 at their Feb. 5 meeting.

Walsh, having lived in the city for 10 years, is a small business owner and served on the city’s Planning Policy Commission (PPC) for the past two years. A graduate from the University of Southern California with a degree in planning policy and development, she said serving on the PPC gave her an opportunity to use that degree in a way that can directly help the city. By applying for the city council position she hoped to take that involvement further.

When she started on the PPC, the city was in a development moratorium and the commission discussed everything from structured parking to affordable housing. Walsh said her experience on the PPC prepared her for the work necessary in the city council position.

After applying for the position and attending several meetings, the candidates for the role attended the Feb. 5 city council meeting where they participated in a panel style interview.

The final two candidates were Walsh and Michelle Kemper, who saw the council split. While both candidates were heavily considered by the council, Walsh was chosen for the position.

“It was a nerve-wracking process,” she said. “Having to wait two hours while the council was deliberating was interesting. My daughter was there biting her fingernails in anticipation. It was a hard decision because both of us were extremely qualified.”

After extensive discussion from the council in executive session, Lindsey Walsh was appointed to the vacant position. For the rest of the evening she joined her fellow councilmembers in discussion of the agenda.

With experience from the PPC, she is hopeful that the council will continue to address what she sees as the biggest issue — traffic.

“I’d like to see us take advantage of things we do have in our control, create more projects focused on traffic and congestion, much like we did with Olde Town traffic calming,” she said.

The city is taking Walsh through extra training to meet with the directors of every department in the city in order to ask questions and get a more detailed understanding of the work city staff does.

Walsh will occupy position No. 4 on the city council for the rest of Ramos’ term, which runs until election day in November. If she wants to retain her seat, she must run for election this year.