In the Nov. 4 general election for Carnation City Council, Rachael Pearson is facing Jim Ribail for position 2, while Max Voelker is facing Rohana Joshi for position 4. King County Elections mailed out ballots to registered voters on Oct. 15.
The Snoqualmie Valley Record sent out questions to each candidate, and here are their responses.
Council position 2: Rachael Pearson v. Jim Ribail
Editor’s note: Rachael Pearson’s campaign did not respond to the Snoqualmie Valley Record’s Q&A request.
Tell us about yourself and why you are running for City Council.
Ribail: I’m running for City Council for one main reason. When I was first elected, my goal was to make the city budget more transparent and get Carnation into a stronger financial position. The City of Carnation is in a much better place today than it was eight years ago. During my time on Council, I’ve served on several city and regional committees. Those regional roles opened my eyes to how little many outside agencies and elected officials understand about the Snoqualmie Valley. There are assumptions about services and infrastructure that we simply don’t have. I’m running to continue advocating for Carnation. As a small city, the only way we can deliver what our citizens need is through consistent advocacy at every level. I’ve done that successfully for the past eight years, and I believe it’s needed now more than ever.
How are you currently involved in the community?
R: I stay involved in many ways. I regularly volunteer with the Sno-Valley Senior Center and help cook the July 3rd Spaghetti Dinner. I support local businesses whenever I can and have been active in youth sports for years—coaching, officiating, and now continuing to referee even though my kids are grown. I think it’s important to keep kids active and connected. I also helped start the Open Gym Program at Tolt Middle School. The fall through spring months can be tough for kids to get outside, so I worked with the Riverview School District to make this happen. It’s been a great success and continues to provide a safe, positive space for students to stay active and engaged.
What issue or issues do you see as the most significant challenges over the next few years? Tell us why you are uniquely qualified to handle or find a solution to these issues.
R: Our main challenges are complying with the Growth Management Act (GMA), and improving valley infrastructure. The GMA is well-intended but often treats all cities the same, ignoring local realities. Through my work on this issue, I helped lower Carnation’s state housing target from 799 to 350 units. Now, serving on the GMA committee, I’m working to bring a more balanced approach to state planning. Infrastructure is closely tied to growth. SR 203 and Highway 18 have become bypasses for I-405, creating safety and congestion issues. Carnation helped support the Highway 18 expansion, and we’re now collaborating with federal, state, and county partners on the SR 203 and Tolt Hill Road roundabout — plus additional safety improvements throughout the valley.
How would you balance the need for economic development and more affordable housing with sustainability and preserving the community’s small-town feel?
R: It’s a challenge for a small city like ours. We supported the 15-unit senior housing project in Carnation by reducing impact fees and streamlining the process to help it succeed. We don’t have many economic levers, but we can encourage diverse housing types. When a large development came to town during my first year on council, I worked to include townhomes at lower price points—those homes have been a big success. We also collaborated on a new apartment complex, with more in progress. Maintaining our small-town feel is about community connection. Whether through city- sponsored events or partnerships with the chamber, we focus on helping new and longtime residents feel part of Carnation. Even with growth, visitors still tell me, “This is such a great small town — you can do so much here.”
In your opinion, is the city headed in the right direction? If yes, what is it doing well? If not, what needs to change?
R: Yes, I believe it is. Over the past eight years, I’ve worked with many different councilmembers, and together we’ve focused on what’s best for our citizens and visitors. Not everyone agrees with every decision, but most can see that our choices are made for the long-term good of the city. We must always remember why people chose to live here — and make decisions that preserve and improve that. Sometimes progress means taking no action or saying no; other times it’s helping residents see the benefits of what’s ahead. When mandates come from the state or county, our job is to ensure they work as well as possible for Carnation.
Council position 4: Rohana Joshi v. Max Voelker
Editor’s note: Rohana Joshi’s campaign did not respond to the Snoqualmie Valley Record’s Q&A request.
Tell us about yourself and why you are running for City Council
Voelker: I’m Max Voelker, and I’m a resident and dedicated citizen of Carnation. I’m not a career politician. I just love this city, and am running to try and give back to the community. My background is in game development production, technology, and incident management, and I think those skills can help move the city forward. My project management experience means that I know how to take proposals from identified problem statements all the way to an action plan to make sure we’re delivering real results on time and on budget. I plan on bringing my incident management experience to bear on the Dam Warning System issues, ensuring we can create a safe and reliable plan to make sure we save every life possible in the event of a significant failure of the dam. I firmly believe that avoiding loss of life is the only metric we can measure success with, and I’m aggressively dedicated to making sure we can get everyone to safety if the worst should occur, as well as holding SPU accountable for any future testing failures.
How are you currently involved in the community?
V: In terms of active involvement, I’m a member of the Carnation Chamber of Commerce, as well as a volunteer for the Tolt Historical Society. I also volunteer for set-up and tear-down for the Sno-Valley Senior Center annual Plant Sale. Outside of official positions, I also live in the downtown corridor and engage frequently with local business owners and citizens, frequently putting local entrepreneurs in touch for collaboration to bring more people to their businesses. I’m very engaged in the local arts and music community, which I believe is a cornerstone of what makes Carnation so great. Our household also sponsors Brodie Nation and the Sno-Valley Pride Picnic, bringing culture and inclusivity into the valley in a very real and meaningful way.
What issue or issues do you see as the most significant challenges over the next few years? Tell us why you are uniquely qualified to handle or find a solution to these issues.
V: I have a three-point answer to this: Our road infrastructure is stretched thin, as is our city budget. Residential housing is a net loss for the city; it costs them more to maintain the infrastructure than they make back in property tax, so I’m very skeptical of any further residential growth until the council is able to solve those problems. I believe that any petition for residential growth needs to come with both investment in our commercial and recreational spaces, as well as investment and lobbying for infrastructure improvements. The big-box developers have a much larger budget than the city, and they serve to benefit from those developments, so we should hold them accountable for the cost to make any further growth sustainable for the city, as well as set slow and realistic targets for the number of new residents in the city given our unique needs. The situation with the Tolt Dam is unacceptable. The council is already working to get the alarms back on, but I think we need to go further. We need direct financial accountability from SPU for test failures, in the form of both a third-party investigation on how any failure happened and a plan to ensure it didn’t happen again, as well as financial compensation to invest in emotional support for the people affected by the trauma of false alarms. We also need well-established evacuation sites for those of us that don’t have vehicles or aren’t mobile enough to get out on their own, as well as registration for those of us that are home-bound and will need direct assistance to evacuate. Finally, I want to see an annual test of that full process to ensure that it works, and that in case of a dam failure everyone will be safe. We’ve already seen too many of our elder citizens and our multi-generational residents forced out due to rising costs. Every time that happens, we lose the memories and the experiences that help tell the story of Carnation. I very much appreciate the work that The Sno-Valley Senior Center has done with their apartments, but I’d love to lean in, exploring grants, vouchers, and rent controls to ensure that our long-term community won’t be forced to leave us because of economic pressure.
How would you balance the need for economic development and more affordable housing with sustainability and preserving the community’s small-town feel?
V: I’ve addressed a lot of this above, but it’s a complex question in extremely uncertain economic times. I find losing citizens that have their roots deep in the valley and would like to stay here unacceptable, and I also believe that as a community built on small businesses should provide a way for their staff to live where they work, but we also need to balance that with the larger challenge of city budget and infrastructure constraints. The best path forward here is to view any further requests for residential growth in the city through the lens of maintaining the cultural touch-points i’ve laid out: ensuring our town culture is maintained, including everyone who wants to be an active part of the community, and also making sure that we have the commerce and infrastructure to ensure a safe and sustainable community.
In your opinion, is the city headed in the right direction? If yes, what is it doing well? If not, what needs to change?
V: I do believe we are moving in a positive direction, but I’m a believer in continuous improvement. I appreciate the current council’s efforts to restore the Tolt Dam Alarm as well as having King County adjust the Growth Management target to reflect realistic growth goals for Carnation. I’d love to help carry that momentum into driving real positive improvements in the city. Ensuring that we’re maintaining a sustainable local economy, keeping the arts, cultural diversity, and green spaces that define what Carnation is, and putting a full plan in place to make sure that the dam situation is mitigated is a top priority for me and has been what has driven me to run for Carnation City Council.
