Olympia committee to review 15 applicants for bicycle and pedestrian committee seats

There are 15 applicants for four Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) seats, staff liaison Michelle Swanson announced at the BPAC meeting held Wednesday, November 16.

Strategic Communications Director Kellie Purce Braseth discussed upcoming vacancies in various city boards and commissions earlier in September.

Braseth said the BPAC has one vacant position, and three committee members' terms expire in 2023, namely Barbara Bumann, Brittany Yunker Carlson, and Jon Tallman.

The committee members started working on the criteria for the applicants and the process of reviewing their applications.

"Each year, advisory committee members are asked to review applications and recommend who should fill the upcoming vacancies,"  Swanson told the BPAC committee.

Unlike before, the committee members opted not to create a subcommittee to evaluate the candidates. The recruitment period for new members closes on December 16.

Each member, Swanson said, is expected to review the applications, rank the candidates [to be submitted to the BPAC staff], discuss in the full committee meeting, and come up with a recommendation, which will be submitted to the Community Livability and Public Safety (CLPS) committee in January.

The CLPS would then interview the candidates in mid-March and make a recommendation to the city council around the end of March.

The city council will vote to accept the CLPS recommendation.

 Swanson added that the terms for new members would start in April.

Tallman said a subcommittee might be redundant if all members are expected to review the applications and rank each candidate.

The committee also adopted the criteria they have used in the past to evaluate the candidates:

• Unique perspective
• Engagement in multi-modal transportation – walking, biking, transit
• Interest in community involvement
• geographic representation
• All of the above are rated on a scale of 1-5, with 5 being the highest.

New officer

For 2023, the committee nominated and voted Bethany Roth as chairman and Alison Bremner as vice chairman of the BPAC.

Swanson said officers serve a one-year term from January through December.

The chair's responsibilities include:

• agenda planning, with help from the staff liaison,
• represent the committee at other meetings from time to time
• drafts memos from comments made during BPAC meetings, typically on the capital facilities plan
• works with the staff liaison on drafting the work plan.

For the vice chair the role consists of the following:

• Filling in for the chair when needed
• The vice chair can also be involved in agenda planning