After Bob Sternoff resigned from his Position 2 seat on the Kirkland City Council in March, the council was forced to make a quick decision to appoint a new council member by April 16.

Tenzing Thinley is one of 17 candidates vying for the seat.

Background: Tenzing has lived in Kirkland for seven years. He received his Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from the University of Washington in 1995 and has been a licensed professional engineer since 2004.

Experience: Tenzing has worked as a project engineer with the King County Department of Transportation Transit Design and Construction. He was a land-use engineer at King County DDES and was an ecological restoration civil engineer for King County’s DNR/Water and Land Resources.

Tenzing is also a to-be small business owner who hopes to open a specialty beer shop in Kirkland this summer. He is a board member and volunteer with the Tibetan Healing Fund, Climb for Breast Cancer and in restoration.

Reason for running: Tenzing said he will use his knowledge of public infrastructure projects and polices to ensure the city is meeting the vision of the council and its 10 goals and operational values and its plans for future generations. He said he values the diversity (economic and race) in the community, which is changing rapidly and he wants to help the council and city leadership as they continue their efforts to promote fairness in their practices.

Top issues facing the city: He said the top issue facing the city is updating Kirkland’s Comprehensive Plan. Part of his policy guidance on updating the plan, if appointed as council member, would include creating a simple one-page document to summarize and convey the plan to the public; increasing or maintaining open space, parks, trails, beach access and parking; and improving technology to improve traffic flow on existing roads.

He said the city also needs to ensure fairness in services to the various neighborhoods. The city he said should evaluate and come up with determinants of equity to measure the city’s equity in its practices. He noted the city should also promote feedback forums for communities to outreach council and city leadership.

In addition, the council should focus on city employees by continuing to promote public employees’ hard work and dedication through website links and project videos.

He added the council should encourage training for city officials in customer service, effective communications, project management, new technology and improvement of processes.