The Kirkland City Council is recruiting interested residents to formulate the statements that will appear in the voters’ pamphlet for and against a potential ballot measure to form a Metropolitan Park District (MPD).

The City Council will decide whether to place the MPD on the ballot at its July 21 Council meeting. However, the Council wants to ensure the maximum possible time to recruit candidates.

The City Council will then appoint one committee to prepare arguments in favor of the ballot measure and one committee to prepare arguments in opposition to the measure, if approved.

Interested residents should contact the Kirkland City Clerk’s Office at (425) 587-3197 or KAnderson@kirklandwa.gov for more information on the committees and how to apply.

Applications will be accepted until 4 p.m. on July 6. The City Council will make the committee appointments at its July 21 meeting.

The two committees, which will consist of no more than three members each, will be formed to prepare arguments which 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 are required to be submitted to King County Elections no later than 4:30 p.m. on Aug. 13.

Arguments prepared by the “pro” and “con” committees will be made available to the opposing committees for rebuttal after 4:30 p.m. on Aug. 13. Statements rebutting (optional) the argument made by the opposition shall be submitted no later than 4:30 p.m. on Aug. 17.