Olympia Mayor Selby says she won’t seek re-election in 2023
Cheryl Selby, Olympia’s mayor since 2016, has announced she won’t seek a third term.
“It has been an amazing honor to serve the residents of Olympia as mayor for the past 7 years and I believe it is time for new leadership to take the reins and continue the progress Olympia has made during my time on council,” she said in a news release sent out Wednesday morning, Dec. 14.
Selby was first elected to City Council in 2013. She said in the release she has focused on supporting small businesses and promoting the arts, culture and history in the region. She highlighted the passage of the “Inspire Olympia” tax and taking over the Olympia Armory as career successes.
In an interview with The Olympian, Selby said the “Inspire Olympia” campaign knitted together a lot of the work she had been doing even before she was elected to city council. She said she’s always worked in the community to uplift the city’s history, culture and arts, and now there’s a city department that merges it all with economic development.
She said when voters passed the tax measure, she really felt she had done something for the city.
“The girl scout in me, it’s important to leave things better than I found them,” Selby said.
Selby said she’s also proud of the progress made in reimagining public safety and addressing homelessness and the housing crisis. She said she’s really proud the city was able to create a reimagining public safety work group that’s representative of the community.
“The challenges remain, but I believe we are seeing a positive turn in addressing these issues due to passage of the Home Fund in 2018 and additional state funding for housing and mental health treatment,” she said.
Selby said much work has been done to address climate change, with more to come. She mentioned the creation of a Climate Program Manager is a “significant step in the right direction.”
Looking ahead, she said the proposal to create a regional fire authority with Tumwater is a major step. She said local leaders have been talking about the importance of regionalization for years. Olympia and Tumwater are small cities that can’t accomplish much on their own, she said, and merging would show that the two can set aside their differences for the betterment of emergency services.
Selby said she doesn’t plan to go far when her term is up, and she has another year of work to go. When it’s over, she said she wants to go back to “community volunteer mode,” maybe with the Olympia Armory and the “Inspire Olympia” program.
She thanked her family, the city staff and the Olympia community for their support over the years. She said she’s confident the next mayor will continue to build on the foundation that’s been laid during her time.
This story was originally published December 14, 2022 at 11:34 AM.
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