A well-thought-out and informed editorial plays a critical community role.

It offers voters important information about candidates and measures on the ballot.

But most importantly, an editorial also weighs all of the objective information this newspaper has reported over a given period of time and provides an answer of how news experts and those carefully mulling over these details would vote in the end.

To strengthen this objective, the Reporter is launching its inaugural editorial board.

This seven-member panel will consist of two staff members, including the publisher and me, along with five community members who will serve a two-year term.

We invite residents of the Issaquah and Sammamish communities who are interested in discussing hot topics, endorsing campaigns and addressing broad measures to apply for these five positions.

This board will be held accountable by a democratic vote.

Before applying for these openings, please consider the following:

• You must be keenly aware of local community issues.

• Board members must be open-minded and have the ability to discuss multiple points of view on various issues.

• Members will represent a range of backgrounds, including political ones.

• Your name will be printed in the masthead on the Reporter’s editorial page, which could cause public criticism.

• While on the board, you and immediate family members should refrain from endorsing any Issaquah or Sammamish issues that could be viewed as a conflict of interest.

This includes politically-contentious issues and political candidates. Additionally, neither you nor your spouse can currently hold elected office.

• You are asked to attend quarterly meetings, and board members may be asked to attend more meetings during the election season to interview candidates, if necessary.

• This is an unpaid volunteer position. This commitment will begin in March and is for a two-year term.

If you would like to be considered for one of these openings, and have a direct impact on issues that matter to Issaquah and Sammamish, please email editor@issaquahreporter.com with a short statement about why you want to be involved and why you should be selected.

Statements are due by Feb. 22.

We look forward to strengthening our editorial procedures and we hope you will find this board a useful tool as you make your own decisions.