The Aug. 1 primary election features three candidates running for Brier City Council Position 4: incumbent Valerie Rosman and challengers Derek Hamilton and Christopher Young.

The top two candidates will advance to the Nov. 7 general election.

To help Brier residents learn more about the candidates, MLTnews sent a questionnaire asking about each one’s vision for the future of the city and how they plan to address issues Brier faces.

We are posting these as we receive them. The first is from Derek Hamilton, a U.S. Navy veteran who works in tech design. A Texas native, Hamilton has lived in Brier since 2019.

Q: Why are you running for Brier City Council? What do you hope to accomplish?

I believe as our city grows, the city council needs to reflect the makeup of its citizens, including young families. I plan to continue some of the great work our council has already done, plus add a focus on a few key areas to help move our city forward.

Q: What experiences would you bring to the council and how are they relevant to the position?

While elected experience isn’t something I have yet, I have over 10 years of experience working for companies like Amazon, REI, Atlassian, Travelocity.com and Geocaching.com.

Throughout my career, my focus has always been on understanding customer wants and needs, and helping build products that work in an easy and seamless way – while simultaneously achieving the needs of the business. This connects directly with how I would approach the city council: first and foremost, understanding the needs and wants of the people who live here, figuring out how it should work and then balancing how we can make it work as a city.

To work this way, I rely on research and data to inform decisions. At work, we do this through surveys, interviews and usability testing – things I can bring to the city council to help us make better-informed decisions.

In addition, I often coordinate between many different groups of people, including product owners, engineers, designers, and company executives—not all of whom agree all the time. My experience facilitating decision-making and driving towards goals while balancing multiple opinions and needs would come in handy.

I don’t think running the city like a business is the right approach, but given my experience, I feel confident that I can bring useful business practices and a data-driven approach to our city.

Q: What is your vision for Brier?

I want Brier to maintain the parts we all love: the semi-rural feel, the local events and our amazing parks, while also preparing us for the future.

Q: In your opinion, what is Brier’s most pressing issue and what are your solutions for addressing it?

In one word: Growth – and not just in Brier, the surrounding areas as well. As our city and neighboring communities grow, we need to be ready with how we will handle additional people, needs, and traffic. (See the response below for how I want to address it)

Q: The neighboring city of Mountlake Terrace is preparing for growth with the arrival of Sound Transit’s Lynnwood Link light rail. How do you think this growth will impact Brier – if at all – and if so, how would you help to prepare the city for it?

From what I’ve heard from people who have lived in Brier for a long time, people used to know Brier as a city you didn’t speed through. Take one drive down Brier Road (or Vine Road, where I live), and it’s easy to notice that people no longer think that way.

Our city and the surrounding areas are growing exponentially. This means more people, more traffic and an increased need for safe streets. I want to create action plans for mitigating traffic, reducing speeders, and keeping Brier one of the safest cities in the country. This includes speed-detecting signs, requesting a comprehensive traffic study, speed bumps, and evaluating the need for stop lights.

Q: How do you plan to encourage residents to become more civically engaged?

I want to make it easier for every resident of Brier to be informed and be involved in the decisions and actions that affect our city.

If you aren’t able to attend every meeting, it can be hard to keep up with what’s happening in our city council. When our roads went unplowed during the winter of 2021, it was hard to find answers as to why. When we found out our city turned down funds during the COVID-19 pandemic, it felt like there was very little explanation.

I want to make it easy for every citizen of Brier to be aware of what happens in the meetings and how they can have their voice heard. This includes things like:

• Meeting recaps via email and social media
• Remote broadcasts of city council meetings
• Online public forums

When more voices are heard and able to be engaged, I think our city will benefit.

Q: How will you work to promote equity both within city government and for Brier residents?

Equity comes with access. By making our city government more transparent and more accessible to everyone in the community, that will help promote equity.

Q: Are Brier’s current levels of staffing for its police department adequate? If so, expand on your thoughts and – if not – how might the city pay for additional policing?

This isn’t just a question I can answer with an opinion. To answer this, I would need to look at the data. I would be interested in things like response time, the average number of officers per citizen, community needs, officer job satisfaction and others. Based on that data, we could make an educated decision about whether we need more officers or not.

Q: What are the most pressing environmental issues the city currently faces and your proposals to address those?

Personally, as our city grows, I can’t help but see how many trees and natural habitats are being cut down. I would propose more transparency into how developers are allowed to remove that many trees and what’s being done to mitigate environmental impacts. By making that information more easily accessible, citizens of the city would be able to advocate for changes if they are needed.

Q: Where can people contact you to learn more about your campaign?

My website is www.derekhamilton.us

— By Cody Sexton