Jacob Dimond / jake@yelmonline.com
After winning the race for Yelm City Council position no. 3 by 35 votes in last November’s Thurston County general election, Griselda Arias — who defeated incumbent Joshua Crossmant for the seat — feels she’s ready for the challenge of serving as a councilor.
During an interview with the Nisqually Valley News on Sunday, Jan. 4, Arias said her election is a huge responsibility and that she feels extremely honored by the Yelm residents who voted for her.
Additionally, Arias said she wants to gain the trust of Yelm residents who didn’t vote for her.
The new councilor was officially sworn in during a Yelm City Council study session meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 6, inside of Yelm City Hall.
“I was very intentional about waiting to be sworn in until the first Yelm City Council,” Arias said. “For me, it’s very important and it felt full circle from the time, two years ago, when I stood up for an appointment, to now, standing up there to get sworn in. That part, for me, felt very intentional. I am excited and I am nervous.”
Though Arias had a lead over the incumbent, Crossman, during each update of the Thurston County general election last November, the path to victory wasn’t stress-free. The new councilor received a total of 1,037 votes, or 50.63%, while Crossman tallied 1,002 votes, or 48.93%.
“Election night was very up to the wire,” Arias said. “I have a day job and the election coincided with a very busy time. The day after the election, I had to travel to Wenatchee for agricultural safety day. I had to do a presentation and was extremely busy.”
She added that she was receiving screenshots of results and text messages from friends and family about the narrow lead on election night. Despite the lead — and seeing other candidates with wider leads declaring their victories — Arias knew her race was too close to call.
“I was going to keep updating my followers online on where we were at,” she said. “I just kept pushing the message of this is why you vote. It really does matter. You really want your person or your values, whatever it is, voting is really the only way to do it.”
As an elected official, Arias said she’ll represent the average Yelm citizen by being an average Yelm citizen, and staying as close to the average area resident as possible.
“I’ll continue to do what I already do, which is being an active member of the Yelm Lions Club. Show up every Thursday at the Yelm Prairie Christian Church to serve meals,” Arias said. “I’ll go to all community events, and still try to stay as close as possible to all of the events and make myself as available as possible and approachable.”
One thing that Arias has learned throughout the process of campaigning and becoming an elected official, she said, is that we’re “all just people” at the end of the day. Throughout her tenure as councilor, Arias said she hopes to come off as approachable and easy to talk to.
“I want to say, to all Yelm residents — those who voted, those who didn’t vote, those who voted for me and against me — I truly do want to be available,” she said. “I’m not hard to miss. I’m 4-foot-11. If you see me around: talk to me, stop me, say hello. I do all my shopping here. I live here. I’m essentially in Yelm 24/7.”
One of the new councilor’s biggest areas of emphasis while serving the city will be the youth of Yelm.
“I remember sitting in one of the city council meetings and listening to the boys and girls club talk about how their space is at capacity. Thinking about what Yelm needs, we don’t have a lot for youth to do. Not everybody can do sports. That’s not everybody’s interest,” she said. “If we’re not doing everything we can for our youth, things like mental health can kind of start coming into play. I’d really love to explore that and not from a ‘I know what the youth needs’ standpoint because I’m 39-years-old and have no idea what the youth needs. But I want to work with them to learn what they need.”
She added that serving the youth of Yelm is an area that’s close to her heart and an aspect of the city that she wants to spearhead as an elected official.
“I think it’s very important to address that campaigning is very different than governing, but it doesn’t change my values and my passions,” Arias said. “I want to work with youth and find opportunities for them here in Yelm.”
