To the editor:

Much is at stake in this year’s election of three city council members. Fortunately, our community is blessed to have extraordinarily caring and experienced professionals running, such as Wayne Roth, Val Tollefson and Roger Townsend.

Take Wayne Roth for example. You may already know that Wayne has devoted his entire professional career to public service and education; that he has worked in public broadcasting for more than

40 years, including nine years on the board of National Public Radio serving as chairman for two years; and that he just retired from 30 years as president and general manager of KUOW Puget Sound Public Radio. But we all know that résumés don’t tell the whole story.

I recently spent a few hours with Wayne, listening to him speak about his experience, his love for his community, and his desire to bring collaboration and good governance to city council. I was hugely impressed by Wayne’s integrity, honesty and genuineness. He has no personal agenda, no ax to grind – just a deep desire to find the best solutions for this community. He’s focused on the whole community, not any special interest, and on the goal of creating a civil, effective city council.

Wayne’s extensive management experience at KUOW encompassed a broad range of skills and knowledge. But it is his modest, self-effacing, positive approach to problem solving that will serve our community most. His focus is not on past mistakes and finger-pointing, but on positive solutions for the future.

CHANNIE PETERS

Bainbridge Island