Former interim King County Executive Kurt Triplett and current Yakima Assistant City Manager Dave Zabell are the final two candidates for Kirkland City Manager.

The announcement came during the May 18 Kirkland City Council meeting.

“The city council has conducted a thoughtful and careful recruitment process,” said Kirkland Mayor Joan McBride. “We look forward to selecting a candidate that best fits Kirkland’s needs as an organization and community.”

Triplett

Triplett has also served as King County’s chief of staff, deputy director of the county’s Department of Natural Resources and Parks and deputy chief of staff under Ron Sims and Gary Locke. Triplett was appointed by the King County Council to complete Sims term, who was chosen to be Deputy Secretary of Housing and Urban Development by the Obama administration. Triplett has a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from Harvard University, Kennedy School of Government (2003) and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Stanford University (1989).

Zabell

Zabell has been with the City of Yakima since 2005. He is the former Public Works director of the City of Bothell and former city administrator and Public Works director for the City of Marysville. He has a Master’s Degree in Public Administration, University of Washington (2005) and a Bachelor of Science, Public Administration, Upper Iowa University (1989).

The Kirkland City Council hired Bob Murray and Associates to coordinate the recruitment process in November and more than 90 applications were received in the nationwide search.

“I thought it was a pretty decent pool,” said Councilmember Doreen Marchione, who was not surprised by Triplett’s name being on the list. “There were clearly some people who were not qualified in the original 90.”

Murray narrowed that list to 15 and the council and department directors interviewed seven on May 14.

“Some of the final 15 had some good experience,” said Marchione. “I am looking forward to the final interviews.”

The City of Kirkland operates under the “council-manager” form of government in which all legislative and policy-making powers are vested in the city council. The council employs the city manager to carry out the policies it develops. For Kirkland, the city manager position is the director of the City Manager’s Office (CMO) and oversees the operations of 10 departments. The position was vacated when former City Manager Dave Ramsay retired in April after serving for 12 years. Former Assistant City Manager Marilynne Beard is currently serving as Interim City Manager.

The council will hold a special meeting on May 25 to conduct further interviews in an Executive Session with Triplett and Zabell and may announce its final selection in open session.

For more information about the CMO, go to www.ci.kirkland.wa.us/cmo or call 425-587-3001.