BREMERTON — Bremerton City Council member Eric Younger will fulfill a second year as board president, with councilmember Jerry McDonald filling the position of vice president for 2017, the council announced Jan. 4.

Younger, the council representative for District 7, was president in 2016, as well. He first joined the Bremerton City Council in 2001 and left in 2003. He later rejoined the board in 2010.

“I feel it’s an honor that the majority of the council has supported me,” Younger said. “I feel real positive for 2017. Last year, we set some council goals … sometimes people set goals just for the sake of setting goals.

“What we did in 2016 is that every couple months, I would pull the goals out and say, ‘How are we doing?’”

Younger said each goal was regularly addressed. One goal was annexation; the city contracted with a consulting company to make strides towards achieving that goal in 2016 (see: “City of Bremerton is ‘definitely interested in annexation,’” on KitsapDailyNews.com). Another was repairing city roads and sidewalks. The city increased funding to achieve that throughout 2016. The council is continuing work on both goals in the coming year.

“I’m excited to just keep moving the city forward,” Younger said. “I’m very goal-oriented.”

This is McDonald’s first term as vice president of the City Council. Being vice president, he said, is “not much different than what we’ve done in the past,” and is there to back Younger up should the president need to miss council meetings.

Nevertheless, he’s looking forward to establishing new council goals and identifying which ones will be held over from 2016 in the upcoming goal session, that will be held in February.

“(There are an) awful lot of things happening,” McDonald said. “I think the fast ferry really is going to step up the game. I truly believe that we’re going to see some benefits from that.

“There’s a lot of things that are going to start happening, as long as the economy stays where it is,” he added. “Stay tuned until after our goals session.”

The Bremerton City Council meets 5:30 p.m. the first and third Wednesday of each month in the first-floor chambers of the Norm Dicks Government Building, 345 Sixth St., Bremerton. For more information, visit www.ci.bremerton.wa.us, or call 360-473-5280.

Michelle Beahm is a reporter for the Central Kitsap Reporter and Bremerton Patriot. She can be reached at mbeahm@soundpublishing.com.