Gallery One Director Monica Miller was sworn into position 7 of the Ellensburg City Council on Monday, Jan. 28, after a 4-2 vote in Miller’s favor.  

According to councilmen Bruce Tabb, before applying for a seat on the council, Miller served on both the Arts Commission and the Lodging Tax Advisory for several years, making her familiar with the city and its practices.

“I’ve been volunteering for the city now for eight or nine years,” Miller said. 

She applied for the council seat for a couple of different reasons. Miller said she has been rewarded through the work she has done on the commission. The Arts Commission and Miller worked with the council to advocate for an art funding stream for the city, as well as created an ordinance that would permanently fund the arts in Ellensburg. 

Due to Miller’s arts background and directing a business in town, Mayor Nancy Lillquist said that she brings creativity to the council. Miller has a different way of looking at things than some of the other council members, according to Lillquist.

“She has demonstrated her ability to work with groups of people in a productive way,” Lillquist said. 

Lillquist said it is important to have the voice of a business owner on the council, and it will be very helpful.

According to Tabb, there will be a learning curve for Miller in terms of land use pieces, such as zoning and encouraging affordable housing.  He said she has a good sense of some elements of what she is doing, what the community believes and where it wants to go. 

“She cares about the community,” Tabb said. “She wants to listen and hear and reflect about [what the] values of the community are. But she also recognizes at the same time that we need to take steps forward to making this a better community for all.” 

According to Tabb, there were a total of 11 applicants that went through the application process. 

According to Miller, the application process was a four-step process that started by the applicants submitting a letter of intent and a resume signifying their interest in applying. Then, they had to attend a public meeting and introduce themselves to the City Council and the public. 

Following this meeting, the applicant had to submit an essay talking about a time when they worked with the community or a group of people with varied ideologies and how they resolved the issues. Finally, they had to attend another meeting which occurred Monday, Jan. 24. They were given 15 minutes each to answer a set of five questions put together by the council. 

Miller said she is coming into the council with an open heart, an open mind and curiosity as to how her participation will impact the goals at large. 

“It’s a huge honor,” Miller said. “It’s a huge responsibility to represent this community.”