Lacey City Council appoints Lynda Zeman to fill vacancy

After Lacey City Council interviewed 13 applicants and narrowed the field to four finalists Tuesday night, they finally picked Lynda Zeman, a local business owner, to fill a council seat left vacant by Rachel Young’s resignation.

Zeman also is running for the seat she was appointed to fill.

Zeman told The Olympian in February that she is the co-owner of Window Genie, a residential and commercial window cleaning and maintenance business. She’s also on the board of Hawks Prairie Rotary and is the president of another service club, Zonta Club of Olympia. Running for council is an extension of serving the community, she said.

All of the applicants were interviewed by the council Tuesday. The four finalists were Zeman, Stewart Ridgeway, Nasacha Nixon and Kristen Jacobsen.

Some of Zeman’s interview responses were:

On her vision for Lacey: “I envision a city where those who are most at risk are healthy and living fulfilling lives,” she said, adding that she wants Lacey to thrive economically and produce living-wage jobs, and be a city “where people are flourishing so much that they have time to develop themselves in ways other than just professionally.”

On homelessness: “It’s a regional issue,” she said. “Knowing the city of Lacey to be a compassionate community, I am pleased the city is potentially stepping up to help this region and community grow.”

After Mayor Andy Ryder called for a vote, Zeman received three votes (council members Cynthia Pratt, Michael Steadman and Carolyn Cox); Ridgeway, two (council members Jason Hearn and Lenny Greenstein); Nixon, one (Ryder); and Jacobsen, no votes.

Four votes were needed for appointment. Since no one was appointed after the first round of votes, they voted again.

On the second try, Ryder joined Pratt, Steadman and Cox in voting for Zeman.

This story was originally published May 8, 2019 at 3:42 PM.