Kathy Downer, a member of the Sequim City Council since 2022, announced she’s retiring and planning for the Jan. 13 council meeting to be her last.

She told fellow city councilors and staff of her decision at the council’s Dec. 9 meeting and confirmed the announcement in a telephone interview last week.

“I’m ready to retire and spend time with my (3-month-old) grandchild,” Downer, 72, said. “I’m ready and I have so many other things I want to do.”

Downer said she’s been toying with the idea since former councilors Tom Ferrell and Lowell Rathbun, who are around her age, opted to resign or not run again.

“I will miss it,” she said.

City staff do not formally announce the process to replace a councilor until they have officially resigned. If councilors choose to follow the same process as previous resignations, they’ll open applications for two weeks to city residents to apply for Downer’s seat.

If they have acceptable candidates, councilors will then interview them in a public session and discuss the candidates in executive session. They’ll make nominations and vote during a public session. If someone is not appointed within 90 days of Downer’s resignation, then Clallam County Commissioners would have to select someone.

Downer’s term was set to go through the end of 2027.

Under Sequim Municipal Code, applicants must be registered voters of the City of Sequim, have a one year continuous period of residence in the City of Sequim, and hold no other public office or employment under the city government.

Councilors are paid a $368 salary per month; the mayor and deputy mayor receive more.

More information will be released about the position in the coming weeks at sequimwa.gov and in other city communication platforms.

Votes

Resignations/retirements are not uncommon for the Sequim council. In February 2024, former mayor Tom Ferrell announced his resignation after being reelected to his seat a few months prior.

This led city councilors to open an application process and eventually appoint Nicole Hartman, Clallam Public Utility District’s communications and government relations manager, in April to replace him.

Deputy Mayor Rachel Anderson was the previous councilor appointed to an open seat in February 2021. She was elected in November 2021 along with Downer, current Mayor Brandon Janisse, councilor Vicki Lowe and Lowell Rathbun, who chose not to run for reelection in 2023.

They ran as an allied group largely due to concerns over a majority of the sitting council’s decisions to call for former city manager Charlie Bush’s resignation and approve a resolution to share their opposition to a county health mandate requiring proof of vaccination against COVID-19 to sit indoors in restaurants and bars.

The five councilors won in November 2021 with 65.4% to 69.6% of the votes in their races.

When she was up for reelection in 2023, Downer switched from seat No. 2 to No. 1 to run against former Mayor William Armacost, who became a focus for national media platforms.

Downer said during their race that she in part ran against him because of his alleged connection to the QAnon conspiracy theory which he appeared to endorse in August 2020 on KSQM Radio’s “Coffee with the Mayor” program. He’s denied any affiliation in multiple interviews.

Downer won with 2,382 votes (72.6%) to Armacost’s 892 votes (27.2%).

Background

Downer, a nurse for 43 years, retired in 2014, giving her two weeks notice the day after winning a seat on the Marietta City Council in Ohio. She served through 2019 and moved to Sequim, successfully running for Sequim’s council in 2021.

During her tenure, Downer said she’s proud of the five candidates coming together to run in 2021 to “change the makeup of the council” and for switching seats and winning seat No. 1 in 2023.

As a nurse, she said the resolution to go against health protocols at the time went against her beliefs and those of many residents she spoke to leading up to the election.

Downer also pushed for more affordable housing options in the city, such as proposing and voting in October 2023 to reduce park impact fees by 50 percent for a new development through Dec. 31, 2028 if its household income is set for 30-80% of Area Median Income.

She said building affordable housing is a nationwide issue though, and she’s unsure what Sequim can do differently.

“We need to think outside the box,” Downer said. “(Change has) got to come from the state.”

In December she and fellow councilors approved a new manufactured home zone overlay to preserve those parks so they cannot be redeveloped into anything other than manufactured homes, one of Sequim’s more affordable housing options.

Fellow city councilor Harmony Rutter, voted into office in Nov. 2023 with Downer, said she’ll be missed.

“Thank you for all that you brought to council,” she said.

Downer lives in Sequim with her husband Steve and they have four adult children. They plan to stay in Sequim.

“I could not think of any reason to leave Sequim,” she said.

Those with questions about the council application process can contact city clerk Heather Robley at hrobley@sequimwa.gov.