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Tim McGuire edged out Mike Liu to fill Position 2 on the Twisp Town Council, replacing Aaron Studen, who resigned at the last council meeting following his move outside the town boundaries after a house fire in March. Studen served 11 years on the Twisp Council, nine of them with current Mayor Hans Smith, and also served as mayor pro tem.
The interviews occurred at a regularly scheduled town council meeting July 22. Each councilmember was allowed to ask the candidates two questions. The questions needed to be the same to each candidate.
During discussion, which lasted 11 minutes, Councilmembers Wyatt Lundquist and Katrina Auburn expressed their support for Liu while Councilmembers Will Menzies and Tim Matsui expressed their support for McGuire, leaving Smith to break the tie.
Menzies and Matsui said appointing McGuire would give him a running start on town business by the time he is presumably elected in November. The mayor agreed. McGuire is running unopposed for Position 3, currently held by Lundquist, who has chosen not to run to spend more time with his young family.
“[Tim] is going to be a councilmember with us for a much longer time, and I do know that onboarding takes a while, and I think that it’s important for us to start that work and invest in his time with the council,” said Smith.
After a motion was made to select McGuire, Lundquist said he would support him as well.
“I’m going to be a yea here just because I don’t think there’s any reason to be a nay. They’re both great candidates,” he said.
Auburn also voted yea and the council’s vote became unanimous.
As mayor, Smith would not have voted other than to break a tie. In his opening remarks, Smith said he wanted to fill the five months remaining on Studen’s seat quickly so the council could operate at full force.
“We actually have quite a bit of business and work to be doing as we approach budget season,” said Smith. “I’ll be planning to engage committees pretty heavily through the remainder of the year and whoever is going to be in the seat is going to be working pretty hard with us on a lot of ongoing topics.”
The general election in November will have a moment of musical chairs. If elected, McGuire will move to Position 3 following his uncontested election while Molly Filer, who is running unopposed for Position 2, will move to the seat currently occupied by McGuire.
Rosemary Seifried, who interviewed for Position 2 last year but was edged out by Lundquist, is running uncontested for Position 1, held by Auburn, who chose not to run to focus on retiring from the Twisp Feed Store, which she owns. In all, three new people will join the town council following the general election.
Visions for Twisp
McGuire moved to the valley two and a half years ago and serves on the Twisp Creative District Board, where he interacted with other committees and councilmembers. McGuire grew up in small towns in Colorado. He worked as a commercial photographer and was vice president of an international trade organization of photographers for three years.
Since moving to the valley, McGuire said he has shifted to art photography and fine art painting.
“I’m very happy about that change,” he told the council.
McGuire said he was contacted by Smith a few weeks ago to see if he would be interested in filling a vacant position for five months.
“The mayor seemed to think it would be a good opportunity for me to get up to speed on the business of the town before I start,” said McGuire. “I’m assuming that I would win my election that is unopposed in November.”
McGuire said he has more time on his hands now that he has finished some house projects. He said he chose to live in Twisp because of the community.
“My wife and I looked at Twisp and we said, this is where the community is, this is where people live and work and it’s not vacation homes, for the most part. So, that’s why we chose to live here,” he told the council.
“My only aim is to make this place we all love as good as it can be,” he said.
McGuire said he is open to committee assignments, but said he enjoys working on the creative district, given his background, and would be interested in parks and recreation because his father was a landscape architect. McGuire said he has limited experience with children, but would seek their input when deciding on park planning. He expressed his support for the town pool and said he was disappointed the levy for the aquatic district, which failed by a 2-1 margin, didn’t pass nearly two years ago.
McGuire said building a police department, preparing for wildfires, and acquiring Mill Hill Park are things he is looking forward to working on on the council. He said he would like to listen on the council.
“I like to listen to people, and I think that’s part of being a photographer,” he said.
When asked by Councilmember Auburn how much he thought the Town of Twisp should increase in population, McGuire estimated 500 to 1,000 more residents, if the current population is 1,000, to support more businesses. He estimated that would be five to ten years away.
Liu, who has lived in Twisp for 16 years, said he wants zero growth in town while recognizing that “change and growth is just going to happen.”
“While I personally would prefer no growth, I think as a community, I think it would be healthy for us to have some growth, particularly in the area of housing for the workers that support the valley and the economy here. I think there’s a pretty important need there. I don’t have the quantifiable numbers,” he said.
“I think as a town, the growth that we’re seeing is healthy, but I think it needs to be also moderated with some strategic thinking and design and trying to really figure out how much we can support the carrying capacity, if you will, of a small town.”
Liu is the former District Ranger for the Methow Valley Ranger District, which encompasses 1.3 million acres. In his application, Liu noted that he travels internationally and would not be able to connect virtually to all town meetings due to limited or nonexistent internet at his location.
