Hank Margeson congratulates Tanika Padhye
Hank Margeson congratulates Tanika Padhye (Chip Cornwell, City of Redmond)

Yes­ter­day evening, at its March 7th busi­ness meet­ing, the Red­mond City Coun­cil select­ed Tani­ka Pad­hye to fill the vacan­cy cre­at­ed by the Jan­u­ary res­ig­na­tion of NPI Advi­so­ry Coun­cil mem­ber Kim Allen, who stepped down due to hav­ing an increas­ing­ly trav­el-cen­tric work sched­ule.

Pad­hye, forty-three, was pre­vi­ous­ly a mem­ber of the city’s Plan­ning Com­mis­sion and has served more recent­ly on the Parks and Trails Com­mis­sion. She holds degrees in law from North­east­ern Uni­ver­si­ty and psy­chol­o­gy from Texas A&M.

In the mid-2000s, Pad­hye worked for the city of Seat­tle as a civ­il rights inves­ti­ga­tor and for K&L Gates as a staff attorney.

“I feel strong­ly about con­nect­ing with Red­mond res­i­dents because it cre­ates a health­i­er gov­ern­ment that is a reflec­tion of the peo­ple it rep­re­sents,” said Pad­hye in a news release pub­lished by the city.

“I have com­plete con­fi­dence in Coun­cilmem­ber Padhye’s abil­i­ty to serve the peo­ple of Red­mond, and I look for­ward to work­ing with her as a new Coun­cil col­league. Her years as a res­i­dent of Red­mond and expe­ri­ences as a Com­mis­sion­er on the Plan­ning and most recent­ly the Parks and Trails Com­mis­sions have pre­pared her for this role,” said Coun­cil Pres­i­dent Hank Margeson.

The Coun­cil select­ed Pad­hye from among three final­ists. There were thir­teen appli­cants for the posi­tion fol­low­ing Allen’s notice of resignation.

Pad­hye will serve through Novem­ber at least, and longer if she runs for and wins a full four year term. The posi­tion she’s been appoint­ed to is nor­mal­ly open in local elec­tion years that fol­low a pres­i­den­tial elec­tion year — like 2017.

Posi­tions #2 and #6, cur­rent­ly held by Coun­cilmem­bers Byron Shutz and John Stilin, will also be sub­ject to elec­tion this year.

The City has yet to update its Coun­cil ros­ter page with Pad­hye’s offi­cial con­tact infor­ma­tion, biog­ra­phy, or por­trait — and we hope that can be done no soon­er than the close of busi­ness tomorrow.

Con­grat­u­la­tions, Coun­cilmem­ber Pad­hye, and best wish­es in your new role.

About the author

Andrew Villeneuve is the founder and executive director of the Northwest Progressive Institute, as well as the founder of NPI's sibling, the Northwest Progressive Foundation. He has worked to advance progressive causes for over two decades as a strategist, speaker, author, and organizer. Andrew is also a cybersecurity expert, a veteran facilitator, a delegate to the Washington State Democratic Central Committee, and a member of the Climate Reality Leadership Corps.

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