Small business owner and Marine Corps veteran Paul McDaniel will be the next Federal Way City Council member.

The city council appointed McDaniel in a 5-1 vote on June 26 to fill Position 2 on the council, which was vacated May 16 by former councilmember Erica Norton.

McDaniel is a third-generation Federal Way resident and president of 7th Power Inc., an independent technology consulting company working primarily in the medical and construction fields. He and five other candidates were asked six questions to gauge their approach and skill with governance during a June 26 special council meeting.

Asked to identify Federal Way’s biggest issue, McDaniel said “safety,” mentioning that his car had been broken into just two weeks prior and decrying the conditions that have led grocery stores to rely on security cameras, guards and reduced entrances.

“I know the biggest problem is we’re short-staffed on police and we have restrictions on police, but I still feel there’s laws the police can enforce,” he said. “The other (issue) is the homeless encampments. … I don’t know what the legal limitations are, but my mind sticks outside the boxes, sometimes, of the legal limits. … What’s the lawsuit potential compared to not having that on a daily basis? Does the city and residents approve of us maybe going after, a little bit stronger, with a potential lawsuit — and saying that lawsuit actually is worthwhile, because the city is cleaner, and the people feel safer?”

McDaniel said he’d like to bring more small businesses to Federal Way. They create a more reliable business environment in the city than relying on “large, one-hit-wonder” employers who can disrupt the economy when they leave or close up shop, McDaniel said. He said he’d be interested in finding ways to streamline the permitting process and reduce the costs for businesses going through it.

He had a variety of ideas to creatively stimulate business in town, including building a small business incubator program with local high schools and promoting sales tax holidays.

To augment the supply of affordable housing, McDaniel suggested using some of the city’s vacant land and removing permitting obstacles that keep home builders waiting to break ground.

When asked how the city could unify residents while celebrating its diversity: “I think you need to bring everyone underneath one umbrella,” he said. “It’s probably controversial, but when I look around and I see multiple flags representing multiple groups, I don’t feel that brings a group together. I feel in order to show that diversity and unity … you have to pull around what makes the city, and it’s the families.”

Asked to clarify, McDaniel said over email: “I believe there is only one flag that represents everyone in the country. Any other flag only represents a smaller segment of the population and not the whole.”

He also suggested the promotion of business relationships between people of diverse backgrounds.

Asked what diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) meant to him, McDaniel said he’s not a fan of the terms. (DEI is an institutional framework that is often used in corporate trainings or as a mission goal in government, schools and medicine. DEI efforts often ask participants to consider social disparities between different demographic groups.)

“I don’t use them,” he said. “I feel they’re divisive. I teach, on Saturday mornings, jiu-jitsu to kids. I taught wrestling to middle schoolers. When I go in there … I don’t look at them as anything other than my kids. … I feel like (those questions) are making me have to break people into categories and boxes. … I don’t believe in that. I don’t support that stuff. My diversity is: I treat everybody the same. Either I like you or I don’t like you.”

McDaniel, a jiu-jitsu black belt, ballroom dancer and trail runner, ran for the Republican nomination in the 2022 election for the state House of Representatives in District 30 Position 1. Fellow Republican Casey Jones ultimately earned the nomination, but lost to sitting Rep. Jamila Taylor.

“I believe a city councilmember’s role is to be the eyes and ears of the community,” McDaniel said. “I feel that our job is to go out into the community, listen to the concerns of residents and … address the issues they run into on a daily basis.”

Though not a husband or father, McDaniel told the Mirror he is a family man.

“I will work to the best of my ability to provide a positive impact on the families of this city and I do not believe it takes a city to raise a child, but I believe it takes a city to protect them,” he said.

McDaniel will be ceremonially sworn in at the next council meeting, July 5 at 6:30 p.m. Former councilmember Norton had served about half of her four-year term, so McDaniel will hold the seat for two more years. It will go up for election in late 2025.

The voting process

Eighteen candidates had applied for the seat vacated by Norton, but the council ultimately voted to winnow that crowd down to keep the interview process more efficient.

The candidates interviewed June 26 also included:

• Arts Commission Vice Chair Karen Brugato, who touted her work on the city arts commission, called for a creative approach to building artistic city attractions in downtown Federal Way, advocated for moving City Hall downtown and suggested the idea of creating local “neighborhood councils” across the city.

• Planning commission member and school district employee Anna Patrick, who identified drug addiction and crime as pressing issues, called for a “balanced” housing landscape with creative ideas like cottage houses to keep affordable options for buyers, and said the city should partner with businesses to keep them safe from crime.

• Senior Advisory commission chair Lana Bostic, who said she’d advocate for keeping Federal Way a safe and accessible place for seniors, support programs like King County’s Health through Housing initiative, encourage the redevelopment of abandoned buildings into new housing and support the use of emergency shelter like the temporary arrangements at the Stevenson Motel.

• Washington Fatherhood Council member and Microsoft project manager Gordon Bock, who said he’d focus on reducing crime, especially shoplifting, taking a balanced approach to promoting affordable housing and support equal opportunities, though he shared concerns with raising city flags for specific groups, such as those that aren’t the American, state or city flag.

• King County Community Corrections Director Saudia Abdullah, who said she’d use her more than two decades in criminal justice to address crime, invest in nonprofits and look for grant money to improve public safety and bring to the job a commitment to the community she lives in.

Tom Medhurst was scheduled for an interview but bowed out of the race.

The city council took around 45 minutes in executive session before taking the decision to two votes.

The initial vote was one for Abdullah (Assefa-Dawson), two for Patrick (Linda Kochmar and Jack Walsh) and three for McDaniel (Honda, Dovey, Tran). That left McDaniel in the lead but without a majority of votes.

In the second council tally, councilmembers Kochmar and Walsh changed their votes to McDaniel, leaving him with a 5-1 majority.