Kenmore holds finalist interviews, enters executive session to evaluate city manager candidates

Kenmore City Council convened a special session of finalist interviews for the city manager recruitment and then entered an executive session under state law to evaluate the candidates’ qualifications; the council said no hiring action would be taken that evening.

The interviews were run by the city’s search consultant, Debbie Terry of GMP Consultants, and included separate panels for department directors and for council members, a tour of the Kenmore community, and a public reception where residents were invited to submit comment cards. Terry told attendees she would transcribe comment-card feedback and provide it to the council as part of their deliberations.

Why it matters: The council’s selection of a city manager determines who will run day-to-day city operations, lead implementation of capital and economic-development projects and oversee the city’s financial plans — topics candidates discussed during the panels and in the public reception.

Consultant and staff outlined the interview process and schedule before the public portion. Council interviews were scheduled for 75 minutes each with a 15-minute break between sessions; department director interviews and the candidate tour were set for 50 minutes. Panel formats were standardized by a set of written questions (the council was told it had 14 questions and the department directors about 12), with timekeepers encouraging concise answers and a reserved final five minutes for candidates to ask questions. Attendees were told to avoid asking questions about race, age, religion, health, family status or other protected characteristics.

Three finalists introduced themselves at the reception and answered a question about a professional success and a professional mistake. They were:

- Jeff Swanson, introduced as interim city manager for the city of Medina; he described prior roles including interim finance director, city administrator and community-development positions and said his background includes work in industrial operations and environmental cleanup. He said he sees “tremendous opportunity” in Kenmore for economic development and land-use planning. (Jeff Swanson, interim city manager, candidate.)

- Terry Kilgore, introduced as having 25 years in the public sector and prior private-sector experience at Disney and Deloitte; Kilgore said she currently serves as economic development director in Scottsdale, Arizona, and emphasized experience with operations, technology integration and complex financial plans. (Terry Kilgore, candidate.)

- Stephanie Lukasch, identified as Kenmore’s interim city manager and a four-year employee of the city, described local projects and finances she has overseen. Lukasch said Kenmore received $6,400,000 in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds and cited $1 million in direct cash assistance, business support and counseling services as examples of how the city used those funds. She identified the city population figure as about 24,350 and mentioned downtown planning, LakePoint and an Imagine Housing purchase-and-sale agreement as local initiatives. (Stephanie Lukasch, interim city manager, candidate.)

Consultant Debbie Terry instructed staff and council on using consistent questions across candidates and on how follow-up questions should be handled to ensure fairness. She asked council and staff to record strengths and concerns immediately after each interview on a two-column form; she and staff would compile those notes for later deliberations. Michelle, Anastasia and Ellie were identified as staff assisting candidate movement and logistics.

The council then recessed into executive session “to evaluate the qualifications of city manager candidate finalists” pursuant to RCW 42.30.110(1)(g), the Washington statute authorizing closed sessions to evaluate the qualifications of candidates for public employment. The executive session was described in the meeting as scheduled to run several hours and could be extended; the council publicly announced upon leaving session that no action would be taken that night.

The council and staff told members of the public the consultant would transcribe and share comment-card feedback over the weekend and that the council planned additional stakeholder interviews the following day. The consultant and staff emphasized that the council’s deliberations would continue in executive session and in subsequent meetings before any hiring decision was made.

For now, the public record reflects the interview schedule, the candidates’ self-introductions and the council’s use of an executive session under the state statute; no formal vote or appointment was announced at the close of the meeting.