Tumwater resident Brandon Weedon, owner of Fatso’s Bar & Grill in neighboring Olympia, has been selected by the Tumwater City Council to fill the position 1 vacancy. The vacancy was created when former Councilor Leatta Dahlhoff was elected as Tumwater’s mayor during last November’s general election. She was sworn in on Jan. 6.
Weedon was one of seven candidates who applied for the vacancy. Applicants were all individually interviewed during a public special council meeting at Tumwater City Hall on Saturday, Jan. 10. He will officially be appointed to position 1 and be sworn in at the beginning of the next regular Tumwater City Council meeting.
Each candidate was asked the same questions, ranging from what their favorite places in Tumwater are to thoughts on how the city government can improve relations with residents and business owners. They were also asked how tougher issues such as policing, affordable housing and climate change policy should be handled.
The other candidates who applied included Tumwater residents JaVonn “Vonny” Turner, Daniel Mies, Grace Anne Edwards, Dominic Davis, Joy Johnston and Doug McClanahan.
Following the conclusion of Saturday’s interview process, Weedon won a simple majority out of all seven candidates in a ranked choice vote held by the council, where four of the six councilors had him ranked as the first of their three choices.
Turner received the most votes from councilors as their second ranked choice, but since Weedon took the majority of the first rank votes, no other ranked voting was held.
A motion was then made to appoint Weedon to the vacant councilor position which was seconded and passed 5-1, with Councilor Peter Agabi being the sole opposition.
As for why Weedon won out, the majority of councilors liked his small-business experience, and felt the voice of a small business owner was a missing voice on the council.
Councilors also expressed interest in improving collaborative efforts with the Tumwater School District.
In addition to owning and running Fatso’s, Weedon also worked for both Tumwater and Olympia parks and recreation departments, and is a member of the Thurston County Fastpitch Association and a volunteer coach in the Tumwater School District.
When it came to some of the tougher issues, like affordable housing, Weedon explained he felt his business experience would help develop solutions too, especially considering a large homeless camp is located “kiddie-corner” to Fatso’s.
“The City of Olympia has a ‘one-community’ plan, and it is great on paper. It’s not being executed to the best of their abilities,” Weedon said. “They want to mix accountability with compassion. I see it on a daily basis that there is very little compassion for these individuals.”
He wanted to focus on partnering with both Olympia and Lacey in order to try to improve mental health services and work on affordable housing solutions to help address homelessness.
“Housing is extremely expensive, so if we’re able to go ahead and reduce housing costs, get more affordable housing and stop people from going into homelessness … that would be a great first step,” Weedon added.
He will be sworn in at the next Tumwater City Council meeting — scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 20, at 7 p.m. inside Tumwater City Hall, located at 555 Israel Road SW.
