Shelley Kloba says she feels like she has been drinking out of a fire hose since the Kirkland Council appointed her to fill the vacant No. 2 seat on April 16.

With less than two weeks to go before her first official council meeting on May 7, she is gearing up to learn the city’s ropes quickly, while moving full speed to become informed on all the big issues facing the city.

But the new councilwoman says she is up for the challenge.

“I’m meeting with [City Manager] Kurt Triplett at 11:30, so that will kick things off and I’m hoping there’ll be a big old binder of background information,” said Kloba during an interview on April 18. “I need to have my game on right out of the chute because there’s not a whole lot of time to ramp up.”

After former Councilman Bob Sternoff abruptly announced his resignation on March 25, Kloba was one of 17 candidates who vied for the empty seat.

Before the council unanimously appointed her to the council during its meeting on April 16, she was on the edge of her seat that night, she says. When the council initially voted, they were evenly divided between candidates Jon Pascal and Jay Arnold.

“I thought, well that’s about right. They’re very well qualified and there are some excellent reasons why they would be the choice,” said Kloba, 46.

Moving past their “deadlock,” the council finally voted to appoint her.

“It was a bit of a roller coaster ride and I think it’s just indicative of how tough a decision it was and how there’s very little to separate the top tier candidates, so whatever they would’ve decided would’ve been a win for Kirkland,” she said.

A Midwest gal who was raised in Illinois, Kloba moved to Kirkland with her husband just after she received her Bachelor’s of Science in Kinesiology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

“People who live in the Midwest have no sense of what mountains look like in the snow and it’s frightening. It was a white-knuckle trip,” she laughed, noting they moved to the Northwest for job opportunities.

The couple first moved to the Houghton neighborhood but then bought a home in Everett to be closer to their jobs. They moved back to the North Juanita neighborhood 11 years ago to enroll their daughter into the Lake Washington School District.

She first became involved in the community when she served as a legislation chair at Franklin Elementary.

“It was through that and advocating on behalf of kids with our state legislators that you start to realize they’re are people just like you and me and to do their jobs effectively, they need to hear from the people that the public policy affects,” she noted.

She was also on the Lake Washington Citizens Levy Committee, when she learned a lot about school bonds and how to run a successful levy campaign.

“I think my main style of attacking a problem is just jumping in with both feet and learning by doing,” said Kloba, who is currently the legislative director of the Washington Parent Teacher Association.

She has also served as a board member on Kirkland’s Park Board since 2009. Some highlights during her service included the city’s purchase and planning of the Cross Kirkland Corridor and the completion of Juanita Beach Park’s phase one in 2011.

Kloba first entertained thoughts about running for city council when Mayor Joan McBride announced in February she would not seek reelection.

“So I thought there’s an open seat, is this the right time? Am I the right person? I waited it out, talked to some folks and said this isn’t quite right.”

But when Sternoff announced his resignation, Kloba said she had a second chance to think about it.

“So I had to take a deep breath. It’s like having children. There’s never the absolute perfect time,” she said. “But I’m very happy to have the opportunity and I’m very excited about the challenge.”

And while Kloba’s background in kinesiology – the study of human movement – is somewhat unconventional for a council member, she sees it as helpful, she said.

As the owner of Shelley Kloba Massage and Personal Training in Kirkland and a massage therapist at The Donaldson Clinic, Kloba said there are several steps she has to take to treat a patient in less than five minutes. She said she must establish a rapport, evaluate the problem, create a treatment plan and earn the patient’s trust.

“And as you go along you make adjustments to the treatment plan overall so that you can make sure you’re getting the desired results and you’re hitting the goals,” she said, adding, “That is a skill set that applies to a lot of different situations and can very well apply to what I’ll be performing at city council.”

Kloba said some of the top issues facing the city include maintaining a responsive and responsible budget, and keeping up the city’s AAA bond rating.

She also says the city has a tough job of balancing housing and business growth with transportation.

“We have to make sure that we accept the growth that we’re required to by the Growth Management Act, that we absorb that in a way that is smart,” she noted. “When you build housing and when you build jobs, you have to make sure that the transportation in between is not overwhelmed and make sure we’re using the best technology that we have in order to move traffic.”

Before she takes the oath of office on May 1, Kloba said she will “do her homework” and learn the top five or so issues facing the city.

“I know probably the first night I will probably be doing a lot more watching and learning than speaking,” she said.

However, she intends to run for reelection this November for the Position No. 2 seat and says, “[Voters] are going to want to know that I was doing my homework and fully participating and jumping in with both feet and the record will have to show that.”

Kloba will serve until November’s general election results are certified. Whoever wins that election will serve the remainder of the unexpired term, which ends December 31, 2015.

More information

Kloba welcomes residents’ comments and feedback. Contact her through the Reporter at letters@kirklandreporter.com