As state law requires every four years, residents of Kirkland’s Houghton neighborhood must vote on whether its community council will continue to exist. The Houghton Community Council is recruiting interested residents to formulate the “for” and “against” statements that will appear in the voters’ pamphlet for the November General Election ballot measure.

One committee will prepare the statement in favor of, and one committee will prepare the statement against, the ballot measure that reads “Shall the Houghton Community Municipal Corporation be continued in existence for another four years?” Interested residents should contact the Kirkland City Clerk’s Office at 425-587-3197, or e-mail KAnderson@ci.kirkland.wa.us, no later than 4:30 p.m. on June 19.

The Committees, which will consist of no more than three members each, will be formed to prepare arguments that are limited to 200 words. The “Statement For” and the “Statement Against” (in addition to rebuttals of the opposing statements) will appear in the King County Local Voters’ Pamphlet for the Nov. 3 General Election. Arguments will be submitted to King County Elections no later than 4:30 p.m., Aug. 19.

Arguments prepared by the pro and con committees will be made available to the opposing committees for rebuttal after 4:30 p.m., Aug. 19 and statements rebutting (optional) the argument made by the opposition shall be submitted no later than 4:30 p.m., Aug. 21.

The Houghton Community Council is constituted differently than other City of Kirkland advisory boards. It consists of seven members, elected every four years from the area formerly designated as the Town of Houghton, which joined with Kirkland in August 1968. This body exercises both advisory and approval authority over most matters related to zoning regulations and land use within the Houghton area. No other board or commission in the city exercises jurisdictional authority.