Recently appointed Councilmember, Amanda Dodd, has called Bothell home for over 29 years now. She first moved to the city when she was just five years old and it is where she resides today in a multigenerational home in the Shelton View neighborhood with her father, brother, and son.
“I love the people of Bothell. I feel like no matter how big Bothell has gotten, there is always a neighbor you can count on. Bothell has retained its small sense of community despite the fact that it has continued growing. It’s the supportive community that I’ve always wanted to raise my family in,” Dodd shares.
While Councilmember Dodd has been fortunate enough to continue to live in her hometown, she says that many of the friends she grew up with have moved away because of the cost of living and housing shortage that has impacted many Washingtonians.
It is this very issue that sparked Dodd’s interest in becoming a member of Bothell City Council.
“I started to pay attention to housing availability and affordability in our city and began watching city council, and I had this realization that city council members are just people. They don’t have a special degree or anything extra that the rest of us don’t have. They just stepped up. So, I started to get really interested and realized that I had a lot of thoughts and concerns, along with solutions and ideas to get our city on a great path for the future.”
In 2020, Councilmember Dodd joined the Planning Commission, and in 2022, applied to fill vacated Council Position #6. Dodd was unanimously appointed by King County Council in October and will serve for the remainder of the unexpired term through 2023. Councilmember Dodd says she looks forward to having a seat at the dais and finding ways to address housing, parks and open spaces, recreation programs, and public safety.
“I hope that we can become a community that people can come back to. I want us to be a diverse community where we can learn from one another and support each other.”
In addition to being involved in local government, Dodd is a Community Emergency Response Team volunteer and participated in Bothell Police’s 2021 Community Academy. Professionally, she is a technical account manager at a tech company and when she has time to spare, enjoys being with her son, cycling and reading.
Join us in welcoming Councilmember Dodd to Bothell City Council!