King County Council
After serving two terms in the legislature,Phillips won his seat on the Metropolitan King County Council to represent District Four. On the Council,Phillips has been a leader on such issues as,land use and water quality,salmon protection,parks and open space,fiscal management,transportation and clean energy,and jobs and the economy. In 2004,during his tenure as Council Chair,Phillips drew attention when he discovered that his absentee ballot had not been counted,along with 572 others,in the 2004 Washington gubernatorial election,which was decided by a margin of only 129 votes. As a result of his noticing the mistake,the ballots were counted,ultimately swinging the race in favor of Democratic candidate Christine Gregoire. [5]
As a founding member of Water Resource Inventory Area (WRIA) 8,Phillips helped coordinate a local response to the federal listing of Chinook salmon as endangered. Phillips has played a role in preserving over 165,000 acres of farm and forest land and salmon habitat as open space in King County during his time on the Council.
As the Council's Budget Chair for three years during King County's budget crisis,Phillips presided over $170 million in cuts to stabilize the budget while protecting King County's AAA bond rating and prioritizing public safety,public health,and the human services safety net.
Phillips was named the 2001 Public Official of the Year by the Municipal League of Seattle for his leadership in protecting and enhancing our quality of life through his work on land preservation and growth management in King County,and the 2010 Public Official of the Year by the 43rd District Democrats.
In recent years,Phillips has turned his attention to transportation,clean energy,and jobs. As a Sound Transit Boardmember,he served as Chair of the Central Link Oversight Committee overseeing the on time,under budget construction of Link light rail from Downtown Seattle to Tukwila. Phillips also led successful efforts to pass a regional mass transit expansion package that includes building 36 additional miles of light rail throughout the region. In response to Metro Transit's budget shortfall,Phillips called for a performance audit that identified over $200 million of savings or additional revenues that could be used to preserve service. He also called for the successful creation of the Regional Transit Task Force which made recommendations for improving Metro's future.
At the end of the 2013 Council session,Phillips was unanimously elected as Council Chair for 2014,taking over that duty from Councilmember Larry Gossett. [2]
King County is located in the U.S. state of Washington. The population was 2,269,675 in the 2020 census, making it the most populous county in Washington, and the 13th-most populous in the United States. The county seat is Seattle, also the state's most populous city.
Sound Transit (ST), officially the Central Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority, is a public transit agency serving the Seattle metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Washington. It operates the Link light rail system in Seattle and Tacoma, regional Sounder commuter rail, and Sound Transit Express bus service. The agency also coordinates the regional ORCA fare card system, which is also used by local transit operators. In 2017, Sound Transit services carried a total of 47 million passengers and averaged 157,000 riders on weekdays.
The Metropolitan King County Council, the legislative body of King County, Washington, consists of nine members elected by district. The Council adopts laws, sets policy, and holds final approval over the budget. Its current name and structure is the result of a merger of King County and the Municipality of Metropolitan Seattle, better known as Metro, which was a federated county-city structure responsible for water quality and public transportation.
Jan Drago is an American politician and educator from Seattle who has served on both Seattle City Council and King County Council.
Lawrence Edward Gossett is an American politician and activist who served as a member of the nonpartisan King County Council, representing District 10 from 1994 to 2006 and District 2 from 2006 to 2020. Gossett served as chair of the Council in 2007 and 2013.
Peter G. von Reichbauer is an American businessman and politician serving as a member of the nonpartisan King County Council, representing District 7, a 124-square-mile (320 km2) region of South King County which includes all of the cities of Algona and Federal Way, the entire King County portions of Auburn, Milton, and Pacific and large unincorporated areas. Prior to his election to the council, von Reichbauer served as a Washington State Senator for the 30th Legislative District between 1973 and 1994.
Roads and Transit was a ballot measure in the U.S. State of Washington concerning transportation, that was sent to voters in the Snohomish, King, and Pierce Counties for approval on November 6, 2007. It was defeated by a margin of 56% to 44%.
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Sound Transit 3, abbreviated as ST3, was a ballot measure during the November 2016 elections in Seattle, Washington, proposing an expansion of the regional public transit system. The measure was proposed by Sound Transit, which was established by a similar initiative passed in 1996 and expanded by the Sound Transit 2 vote in 2008, who have operated regional transit systems in the Seattle metropolitan area since 1999. On November 8, 2016, Sound Transit 3 was approved by over 54 percent of voters in the Puget Sound region; voters in Pierce County rejected the measure, but the measure passed in King and Snohomish counties, and had an overall majority.
Claudia M. Balducci is an American politician from the state of Washington. She is the Chair of the King County Council, representing District 6. She previously served as the mayor of Bellevue, Washington.
Girmay Hadish Zahilay is an American politician and lawyer who is a member of the King County Council from District 2 in Seattle, Washington. He was elected in 2019, defeating longtime incumbent Larry Gossett.
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