Poulsbo City Councilman Ed Stern was recently elected as president of the Association of Washington Cities (AWC) at its annual Business Meeting in Spokane.

As president, Stern will lead the association’s Board of Directors and executive committee.

“I truly value this opportunity to serve as AWC President,” said Stern. “It also represents the culmination of my municipal public service career, both as a community development director in Montana in the 1970s and ‘80s, and now as a council member since 1997.”

Stern added, “I care passionately about every city and town in our state. As president, I’m focusing on improving economic development across the state and promoting widespread broadband throughout every neighborhood. An emerging challenge is how cities can help to repurpose underutilized and abandoned commercial and retail properties displaced by online sales into new business and housing opportunities.”

Stern has served on the AWC board since 2008 and the Poulsbo City Council since 1997.

The AWC Board of Directors is the association’s governing body. The board is comprised of 25 directors, 23 of whom are mayors or city council members from Washington cities or towns. The other two are non-elected city officials who also serve as the president and past president of the Washington City/County Management Association.

AWC was founded in 1933 and serves its members through advocacy, education and other services.

The AWC is a private, nonprofit, nonpartisan corporation that represents Washington’s cities and towns before the state legislature, the state executive branch, and with regulatory agencies.

While membership is voluntary, the AWC consistently maintains 100 percent participation from Washington’s 281 cities and towns. AWC also provides training, data and publications, and programs such as the AWC Employee Benefit Trust, AWC Risk Management Service Agency, AWC Workers’ Comp Retro, AWC Drug and Alcohol Consortium, and AWC GIS Consortium.