Council appoints Shelby Lambdin to fill District 2 seat amid public criticism about nonprofit background

The Spokane City Council appointed Shelby Lambdin to fill the District 2 seat vacated by Lily Navarrete, with the resolution passing 4-2.

Resolution 2025-0053 names an individual to the seat; the council held interviews and, according to Councilmember Dylan, allowed public testimony during the committee process. Councilmember Dylan praised Lambdin's interview and said he "look[s] forward to serving with her over these next 4 months, particularly as we have to address a lot of budget challenges."

Public commenter Derek Azaro spoke during the consent public comment period in opposition to the appointment, criticizing the pattern of appointing people with nonprofit backgrounds. "Appointing yet another nonprofit organization member to the board... there's gonna be times when there's gonna be voting on budgets and finance... If there's anything in any of those where Chaz benefits financially from the vote, to me, it's a conflict of interest," Azaro said. (Transcript spellings/identifiers preserved as spoken.)

Councilmember McCluskey and others responded by encouraging nonprofit-affiliated applicants to apply and noting that nonprofit and government roles often overlap in public service. McCluskey said she had been a small business owner and encouraged community members to apply for civic service roles regardless of prior nonprofit experience.

The appointment was approved by a 4-2 vote. The record shows the council used a committee process with public testimony for finalists; the transcript notes the appointment is intended to be for a limited period ("next 4 months") ahead of an upcoming election cycle.