Chris Roberts elected mayor at first 2024 meeting of Shoreline City Council

Shoreline District Court Judge Raul Martinez (left) performs the oath of office to Councilmembers Keith Scully, Annette Ademasu and Betsy Robertson

At the first regular Shoreline City Council meeting of 2024, Shoreline District Court Judge Raul Martinez performed the oath of office ceremony to swear in Keith Scully, Annette Ademasu and Betsy Robertson.

In comments, Judge Martinez said, “We're grateful that these three individuals stopped to ask themselves the question. What am I doing for others? And we're grateful that they accepted the challenge of serving as our elected council members.”

Councilmember Keith Scully was first elected to the City Council in 2015 and was reelected after running unopposed in 2023. He served as mayor in 2022 and 2023. Councilmember Betsy Robertson was appointed to the council in 2019 and elected in 2019. She ran unopposed in 2023. Councilmember Annette Ademasu was elected to the council in 2023 after winning in the only opposed contest.

Mayor Chris Roberts

Councilmember Chris Roberts was elected mayor and Councilmember Laura Mork was elected deputy mayor. First elected to the council in 2009, Chris Roberts is the council's longest serving Councilmember and held the position of mayor once before. 

In Shoreline's form of government, the Mayor and Deputy Mayor are chosen by the City Council, rather than being elected directly. The Mayor runs the council meetings and represents the city at public events and regional groups.

Deputy Mayor Laura Mork

The council voted to extend the city’s moratorium on Bus Bases after hearing public comments from representatives from King County Metro and Black Brandt LLC, the owners of the Access Bus Base in the Ridgecrest neighborhood. 

The city is involved in litigation after halting the sale of the Ridgecrest bus base to Metro Transit. In public comments, Metro and Black Brandt again pleaded with the city not to extend the moratorium and warned of possible further litigation and disruption to bus service for disabled riders in the north King County region. For more details, see previous reporting in the Shoreline Area News.

The council also heard a staff update on the city’s new Human Service Strategic Plan which will for the first time provide a coordinated plan for addressing homelessness and behavior health services in Shoreline. 

Shoreline's human services staff compared to other cities in the region.
Graphic courtesy City of Shoreline

In the 2022 Resident Satisfaction Survey, Shoreline residents ranked homelessness and human services as the number one and number three services that should receive the most emphasis. Nevertheless, staff presented data showing that the number of city staff Shoreline dedicates to human services is lower than the average for other cities in the region. 

The council challenged staff to “think big” and come back with a more strategic approach. Specifically, to identify the problem that needs to be solved and to propose the solutions needed.

Shoreline City Council meetings are held most Monday evenings at Shoreline City Hall, broadcast online, and recorded. Because of Martin Luther King Day, there will be no council meeting on January 15; the next city council meeting is January 22. 

--Oliver Moffat

Correction: Chris Roberts held the position of mayor once before for a two year term, not twice as originally reported.