Here’s who will be the next Gig Harbor mayor following Tracie Markley’s resignation
The Gig Harbor City Council unanimously expressed support to appoint Council Member Mary Barber to lead the city Thursday evening following Mayor Tracie Markley’s resignation.
The council is scheduled for a formal vote at their meeting Monday.
If appointed as mayor, Barber will serve until the public chooses a mayor from the candidates who run in the Nov. 4, 2025 election. Council member Brenda Lykins is currently serving as the interim acting mayor, or mayor pro tempore, until the vacancy is filled.
Barber shared her interest in stepping into the position at the City Council meeting Nov. 21. Lykins and council members Le Rodenberg, Jeni Woock, Ben Coronado, Roger Henderson and Seth Storset each said they would support Barber’s appointment. The City Council plans to formally appoint her at their Monday, Nov. 25 meeting and Barber will take the oath of office directly following the council’s vote, according to their meeting agenda.
If appointed, Barber must resign from her position on the City Council, according to the agenda.
Her open council member seat will be filled through the procedures outlined in the city’s Council Guidelines & Procedures document, Article 8, the agenda says. That involves opening up applications to residents who are registered voters in the city and have lived in the city for at least one year. The council conducts interviews and selects a finalist to fill the vacancy by a majority vote.
Barber’s appointment would mark the second time she’s filled a vacancy by Tracie Markley. Barber was appointed to serve in Position 4 on the City Council in 2022 when Markley vacated that seat to become mayor, The News Tribune reported. After serving that term, she formally ran for the seat and was elected in 2023. Markley announced her resignation as mayor in a press release Nov. 18, citing “serious health issues” that her family has faced recently.
Barber told The News Tribune Friday that she is considering running for mayor in the Nov. 4, 2025 election, but hasn’t made a formal decision yet.
Council member Barber’s background
Barber comes from a career spanning more than 40 years in strategic communications and public relations. She previously served on the city’s Parks Commission for about two years.
Her vision for Gig Harbor includes maintaining its small-town feel, where people enjoy the waterfront, local restaurants and public trails, The News Tribune reported in January 2022. She also expressed support for residents’ concerns about growth in the city and the need for more infrastructure to support this growth during her interview with the council to serve in Position 4.
In an interview via phone Friday, Barber said she decided to seek the appointment because she sees it as a continuation of her value of community service.
“The different role kind of goes back to my lifelong commitment to really leaving the world or where I am in a better place than I found it,” Barber said.
She said she admires former Mayor Markley’s work in the city, especially what Barber characterized as “heart-first leadership.” Markley put her heart into her work and led with her heart, Barber said, and Barber hopes to do the same.
Asked about how city staff morale changed under Markley’s leadership, Barber said “she did an amazing job,” along with City Administrator Katrina Knutson and their leadership team. The administration worked to “help make the staff feel wanted and needed,” such as by offering more flexible working schedules and better work-life balance, and organizing employee recognition events, she said.
During her time on the council, Barber said she’s proud of supporting the city’s hire of the Housing, Health, and Human Services Program Manager Shealynn Smiley, the passage of Ordinance 1507, which allowed short-term rentals in all residential and commercial zones with dwelling units, and the decision to fly the Pride flag on city property during the month of June.
Looking forward, she said she’s interested in bringing a community center to the city and supporting the city’s business community and economic development.
Asked about challenges the city is facing, she said she wants to see a Gig Harbor that is welcoming to all people, regardless of their gender or sexuality or how long they’ve lived in the city.
Another challenge she sees is talking to residents about balancing the city’s growth with preserving its character.
“I would love to be able to take our meetings to more neighborhoods, and that’s a real challenge because when we meet we have to meet in public and we have to be available via Zoom, so there are challenges with doing that,” Barber said. “But that is one of the things that we can try to figure out that we can do so it’s easier for people to come to our meetings.”
How the City Council decided to appoint Barber
During their Nov. 21 special meeting, council members initially discussed opening up applications for the mayoral appointment to the public.
Council member Rodenberg suggested that if the council opened applications to the public, they should open it to everyone and post a formal notice. Candidates could send their résumé and an explanation of their qualifications to each member of the council, he said at the meeting.
Council member Storset also said early in the discussion he thought opening up applications to the public would be a good idea. He isn’t interested in serving as mayor himself.
“I would hate for someone to come back and say, of course, they just chose another council member and didn’t speak with anyone else,” Storset said. “. . . it’s a great opportunity for us to speak with those candidates and really see what their intentions are.”
Others brought up that appointing a mayor from within the city council could be beneficial.
Council member Woock expressed confidence in each of her fellow council members and said she would like to see a mayor appointed from among them. The citizens of Gig Harbor have already shown support for each of the council members by electing them, she said. She isn’t interested in serving as mayor herself and doesn’t plan to run again for the council at the end of her term.
“I think it is really important that for the sake of this community and continuity that having somebody that our citizens have confidence in and have been elected by our citizens makes a lot more sense to me than having someone who doesn’t know what it’s like to be mayor, has not been in any meetings with the mayor,” Woock said at the meeting.
Lykins said she understood what other council members were saying about opening applications to the public, but said she supported Barber as the mayoral appointee to ease the transition for city employees.
“When I first heard of Mayor Markley resigning, I was most concerned for city staff,” Lykins said. “And I was most concerned for the great work that she has done, showing compassion and respect for city staff. And I think (it would be good) to continue that, to have somebody that city staff know, to have who we know.”
Lykins also said she isn’t interested herself in filling the vacancy.
By the end of the discussion, the council came to a consensus to support Barber as the mayoral appointee.
The Nov. 25 City Council meeting where council members will vote on Barber’s appointment and Lykins will swear her in will be held at 5:30 p.m. in the Council Chambers, at the Gig Harbor Civic Center at 3510 Grandview St. Attendees can also access the meeting via Zoom at https://zoom.us/j/93216056382 or by calling (253) 215-8782 and entering Meeting ID 932 1605 6382. Public comment will be accepted at the meeting.
