
The Lynnwood City Council Monday night voted 1-4 against confirming Interim Parks, Recreation and Cultural Arts Director Joel Faber for permanent appointment to the job.
Councilmember David Parshall was the sole yes vote while Councilmembers Julieta Altamirano-Crosby, Nick Coelho, Derica Escamilla and George Hurst voted no. Councilmembers Josh Binda and Patrick Decker abstained.
Altamirano-Crosby said that in appointing Faber, Lynnwood Mayor Christine Frizzell “has demonstrated a lack of transparency” and “tried to overstep her authority.
“When the mayor has a responsibility to recruit and select department directors, it is essential to remember that the council plays a critical role in contributing those appointments,” she said. “The way the mayor is handling this process could set a troubling precedent around here, and future mayors [can] appoint anyone [without] proper oversight.”
Council President Hurst said that the city council isn’t involved in the confirmation process until the mayor brings forward three candidates who have been interviewed by the council during an executive session. He also said that the mayor “misled the council and the public” by approving the March 18 council agenda that stated the council would be interviewing candidates for the PRCA director position.
“The council never interviewed these candidates,” Hurst said. “Thirty minutes before the start of the March 18 meeting, the mayor [told] the council leadership that there would not be any interviews and that she appointed Joel Faber as interim parks director.
“Subsequently, the council amended the LMC (Lynnwood Municipal Code) to limit the interim appointments, and on Aug. 12, the council voted to direct the mayor to reopen the confirmation process and bring forward three candidates for the PRCA director position,” Hurst continued.
While Hurst stated that Faber is a “valuable, long-term employee” and many parks staff supported and lauded Faber, he said that he cannot confirm Faber as the department’s director. “I do believe Joel should be appointed as deputy director, and that the most qualified candidate…should be appointed by the mayor,” Hurst said. “So as far as confirming Joel as director, I can’t support that.”
Decker questioned the legality of the process that Frizzell followed for Faber’s appointment, noting the mayor cited a Lynnwood Municipal Code that no city councilmember shall be invited to nor participate in any “administrative interview panel” for candidate selection of appointed officials or employees.
“The problem is that the state doesn’t define what an administrative interview panel is,” Decker said. “It simply puts the words out there [saying] you can’t be involved in this activity, but it doesn’t tell you what qualifies as that activity. So even at the state level, there’s a lot of ambiguity here.”

City code states that the mayor would bring candidates forward and go through a confirmation process with the city council, during which the candidate is confirmed by a majority vote.
“There’s nothing in the law, as it’s written out, that says the mayor’s appointment is subject to confirmation by the council,” Decker said, adding that the confirmation process is only for interviews, reviewing documents and hearings during an executive session. “If the council were to vote no, and the mayor were to appoint Joel anyway, what a horrible thing for our city. If we’re just going to rubber stamp what the mayor is already doing, and if the law doesn’t require us to do anything…I don’t think the law requires us to have a confirmation vote.”
Parshall supported the appointment because he said he saw how well the parks and recreation department operated when he toured the facilities with Faber and his senior staff.
“One long-tenured employee says that Joel has the core values to lead the department to success, and that the department is united under Joel’s leadership,” Parshall said, adding that 25 parks employees and former employees “spoke positively” about Faber. “The qualities that they talk about are qualities that I admire. It is my pleasure to vote yes for the one person that we absolutely know to do this job.”

Former Parks, Recreation and Cultural Arts (PRCA) Director Lynn Sordel retired in March 2024 after serving in the position for 17 years. He had recommended then-PRCA Deputy Director Sarah Olson for the director position. After Sordel’s departure, Mayor Frizzell appointed Faber as the interim director instead.
City spokesperson Nathan MacDonald said that the mayor “has been clear that Interim Director Faber is and continues to be the best choice to lead the Parks, Recreation, and Cultural Arts team.”
“[Faber] will continue to serve as the interim director until a clearer path forward is identified,” MacDonald said. “When the next permanent PRCA Director is confirmed, we will announce it formally through our communications channels.”
In other business, the city council received budget presentations from three city departments: development and business services (DBS), human resources (HR) and information technology (IT).
DBS Director David Kleitsch said his proposed budget reflects a 6% increase across most departments in areas such as administration and planning due to rising costs of benefits and overtime. Permits and inspections had a small decrease because one of the positions in that department will be moving to DBS’s administrative department and the adoption of an online permitting system called SmartGov.

Kleitsch said that DBS does not have any new programs and does not require additional funding. “We’re doing the things that we have been doing and continue to do,” he said. “We’re doing them more efficiently and effectively with the same amount of staff that we have done in the past.”
Economic Development Manager Ben Wolters said that the decrease in the city’s budget for the Sound Transit during the next biennium is because the Lynnwood Link is complete. He added that the Sound Transit budget will be “significantly less” until the light rail extension to Everett begins in 2027.
Human Resource Director Annie Vandenkooy asked the council for additional funding of $269,800 biennially for one full-time HR analyst. This position would assist in building, processing and tracking training curriculum, serving as a liaison between departments, tracking driver’s license renewals for all employees and checking compliance with city policies.
Changes to the HR department’s budget include:
– Increased cost of using the software NEOGOV because the department will be absorbing all the costs that used to be shared among other city departments. While this seems like a big increase for HR, this reduces costs in other departments, Vandenkooy said.
– No longer funding 20% of the safety officer position, which is now a public works position.
– A slight increase in city insurance and business operations.
IT Director Will Cena requested an additional $250,000 in the biennial budget to fund two full-time computer systems specialists. These positions will allow the IT department to support the staff at the city’s Community Justice Center (CJC) and provide an increasing number of technical support requests. Cena anticipated an increase of 27% in support tickets this year.

In other business, the council:
– During public comments heard from Lynnwood residents Philip Lipson and Charlette LaFevre about the lack of adequate handicap parking at their residence Destinations Apartments. Lipson said that he was denied his accommodation request for a handicap load/unload parking spot in front of his apartment.
“I have limited mobility and I have trouble walking very far,” Lipson said. “Currently my apartment complex does not have even one designated handicap load/unload parking spot in the front of the building, and I believe it violates ADA codes. The City of Lynnwood repeatedly claims the building is up to code, but it is not. Even our own activities shuttle bus has to park in the street, forcing the driver to leave the vehicle on oncoming traffic and use flashers.”


LeFevre said that the 300-unit complex does not have a single handicap spot and has minimal access spots to the main entrance. “This is unacceptable to our seniors, handicapped, veterans and even South County Fire paramedics who have to lift the gurneys of their patients off the curb because there is no ramp,” she said. “To say the building code is compliant is a joke. The city has known of this problem for years, and I encourage every single council person – if you’re not familiar with Destinations – to come out to the building and see for yourselves.”
– Celebrated Veterans Day with a proclamation to honor and recognize the valor and sacrifice of U.S. veterans. Councilmember Patrick Decker read the poem “In Flanders Fields” by Canadian poet and World War I veteran John McCrae.
Lynnwood author and Vietnam War veteran Dennis Gibb and Mary Lancaster of Heroes’ Cafe thanked the council for the proclamation.

– Heard a proclamation of First Responders Day, made to honor first responders and to pay tribute to those who have lost their lives in duty.

– Story and photos by Nick Ng
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