6 locals join Tacoma building, transportation panels

By Todd Matthews • August 13, 2014 10:05 am
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Tacoma City Council approved two resolutions Tuesday that appoint six local residents to two citizens committees.

First, Laurie Bischof and Kellene Richards have been appointed to two five-year terms on the City of Tacoma’s Board of Building Appeals. The seven-member panel reviews and provides recommendations to Tacoma City Council on new additions, amendments, and proposed changes to the City of Tacoma’s Building, Mechanical, Plumbing, Fire, Dangerous Building, Minimum Housing, and Energy codes.

In June, the City of Tacoma issued a call for applicants to fill the positions. Three candidates applied: Laurie Bischof, Dan Fishburn, and Kellene Richards. Tacoma City Council’s Infrastructure, Planning, and Sustainability (IPS) Committee conducted interviews during a public meeting in July.

Bischof’s term will expire on April 6, 2016. Richards’ term will expire on Aug. 12, 2019.

“Appointing and re-appointing individuals to the Board of Building Appeals doesn’t sound all that sexy, but it’s a very important commission that we have that looks at the building codes and the fire codes,” said Tacoma City Councilmember David Boe, who also serves as vice-chair of the IPS Committee. “We are very thrilled to have many qualified applicants. Two of the applicants, especially Laurie Bischof and Kellene Richards — Laurie with her background in fire protection engineering; Kellene in her commercial real estate — really builds out a strong team of many individuals who are on that board for quite some time. It was very great to be on the IPS Committee and recommend them for appointment.”

Second, Yoshi Kumara, Justin Leighton, and Andrew Strobel have been re-appointed to three-year terms on the City of Tacoma’s Transportation Commission, while Vance Lelli has been appointed to a three-year term on the commission.

The 11-member commission was established last year by Tacoma City Council to advise the City of Tacoma on matters such as short-term and long-range transportation planning; compliance with local, regional, and federal transportation regulations; bike, pedestrian, and mass transit-related planning initiatives; and parking and capital improvement plans. The commission meets at 6 p.m. on the third Wednesday of each month at Tacoma City Hall.

Earlier this year, the City of Tacoma issued a call for applicants to fill the positions. Seven candidates applied: Kumara; Leighton; Lelli; Strobel; Seth Lundgaard; Tara Newton; and Jana Wennstrom. Tacoma City Council’s IPS Committee conducted interviews during a public meeting in July.

Each term will expire on July 31, 2017.

“Where the Board of [Building] Appeals has been a board with the City for many, many years, [the Transportation Commission] is a relatively new commission,” said Councilmember Boe. “We’re very excited to have those that were appointed last year, many of them asked for re-appointment, so we have a great slate again. A lot of very qualified candidates. With the number of re-appointments, we were very pleased to be able to put these forward for consideration.”

To read the Tacoma Daily Index‘s complete and comprehensive coverage of the City of Tacoma’s Board of Building Appeals, click on the following links:

To read the Tacoma Daily Index‘s complete and comprehensive coverage of the City of Tacoma’s Transportation Commission, click on the following links:

Todd Matthews is editor of the Tacoma Daily Index and recipient of an award for Outstanding Achievement in Media from the Washington State Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation for his work covering historic preservation in Tacoma and Pierce County. He has earned four awards from the Society of Professional Journalists, including first-place honors for his feature article about Seattle’s bike messengers; second-place honors for his feature article about whistle-blowers in Washington State; third-place honors for his feature article about the University of Washington’s Innocence Project; and third-place honors for his feature interview with Prison Legal News founder Paul Wright. His work has appeared in All About Jazz, City Arts Tacoma, Earshot Jazz, Homeland Security Today, Jazz Steps, Journal of the San Juans, Lynnwood-Mountlake Terrace Enterprise, Prison Legal News, Rain Taxi, Real Change, Seattle Business Monthly, Seattle magazine, Tablet, Washington CEO, Washington Law & Politics, and Washington Free Press. He is a graduate of the University of Washington and holds a bachelor’s degree in communications. His journalism is collected online at wahmee.com.

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