POULSBO — There is no exact date set for her departure, but Poulsbo City Councilwoman Linda Berry-Maraist announced she will resign from her position “some time” after the end of the year.
“It is with some sadness that I announce my plans to resign from City Council some time after the end of 2014,” Berry-Maraist said at the conclusion of the council’s Nov. 19 meeting. “I’ll work with the [council’s] Finance/Administration Committee and staff and confirm a final date to allow a smooth transition.”
Berry-Maraist was elected to her first term in November 2007 and was reelected in November 2011. Her term ends Dec. 31, 2015. At some point, the city will invite applications from, and will interview, residents interested in being appointed to the vacancy. The position, Position 1, will be on the November 2015 ballot.
It was a long council meeting, covering public works contracts and a lengthy discussion on the city’s 2015 budget. Berry-Maraist made her announcement before the meeting ended.
When asked by Mayor Becky Erickson if she had any final comment to offer before adjournment, the councilwoman began reading from a prepared statement.
Berry-Maraist noted that she has grown more involved in the Poulsbo community over the past 15 years. In addition to assignments on city and regional committees, she is president of the North Kitsap Trails Association and has been active with the Kitsap Forest and Bay Project.
“I have stretched myself overly thin serving on the council, sitting on multiple regional planning boards and working on an array of projects,” she said. “But I’ve really enjoyed it.
“In the meantime, in the eight years between my oldest and middle child, the cost of college has doubled. With the realities of anticipating two kids in college, it’s simply time for me to put my family first and re-focus on my career.”
Berry-Maraist is a professional architect, with an undergraduate degree in urban planning from Stanford University and a master’s degree in architecture from the University of Oregon. She has lived in Poulsbo since 1986.
She thanked her fellow council members and staff and cited years of overcoming obstacles such as the financial downturn. Ever since she first volunteered in Poulsbo in 1999, she said, she has contributed to the development of local playgrounds and public facilities, and participated in regional organizations. She said that she has put a lot of energy into local parks and trails, and would like to continue her involvement in that.
City Council members are elected to four-year terms and receive $6,000 a year.
According to the City Council’s legislative mission statement on www.cityofpoulsbo.com: The City Council “endeavors to balance residents’ concerns and opinions with the law. The Council establishes the priorities of the City along with setting policies and a budget to allow the Mayor and Department Heads to run day-to-day business effectively and efficiently.”
The City Council meets the first, second and third Wednesday of the month, but council members also provide a voice for the city on other committees. Berry-Maraist served on committees that addressed parking and speed control, the Noll Road corridor, and the South Fork Dogfish Creek Master Plan. She was council liaison to the Poulsbo Parks and Recreation Commission and the North Kitsap School District.
She worked on transportation policy with the Kitsap Regional Coordinating Council and the Puget Sound Regional Council, and served on the executive board of the Peninsula Regional Transportation Planning Organization, which reports to the state Department of Transportation.
In the area of environment and planning, she served on the Puget Sound Partnership’s Ecosystem Coordination Board, the Puget Sound Regional Council’s Growth Management Policy Board, and the West Sound Watershed Council.
“As I cut back on community service, I will narrow my focus to trails,” Berry-Maraist said. “I really have enjoyed this work,” she said after the meeting. “I just can’t keep doing it.”
