Mountlake Terrace Mayor Kyoko Matsumoto Wright has thrown her hat into the ring for appointment to the Snohomish County Council District 4 seat vacated by Terry Ryan, who resigned to become the county’s aerospace economic development director.

The Snohomish County Council will decide who will fill the seat, which represents Mountlake Terrace, Brier, Mill Creek and part of Bothell,

Speaking after Tuesday night’s Mountlake Terrace City Council meeting, Wright said that she was approached by several people to seek the appointment. Since Ryan was a Democrat, precinct committee officers for the Snohomish County Democrats will vote Feb. 29 to recommended to the county council three candidates to chose from, in ranked order. The council will then vote on the appointment, but that isn’t expected to occur until early April, Wright said.

The appointee must have a majority (three of four) county councilmember votes to win the seat. If the council can’t get a majority to support one of the three, it will be up to the governor to fill the vacancy.

Wright, a Realtor with Coldwell Banker Bain, said her extensive experience in land use planning and housing issues would serve her well on the county council. She spent five years on the Mountlake Terrace Planning Commission before being appointed to the city council in January 2008, was elected to the seat in 2009 and is now in her third council term. She became Mountlake Terrace mayor after the death of long-time Mayor Jerry Smith in December 2018.

If selected, she would be the first person of color to hold a county council seat.

If Wright is appointed to the county council, Mayor Pro Tem Doug McCardle would become Mountlake Terrace mayor and the city would take applications to fill Wright’s vacant council seat, City Clerk Virginia Olsen said.