Commissioner Karen Valenzuela's Bio


Commissioner, District Three
Thurston County Washington
2000 Lakeridge Drive, S. W.
Building 1, Room 269
Olympia, WA 98502-6045
(360) 786-5440
Send an e-mail to Karen
Commissioner Staff: Danielle Westbrook
(360) 786-5414

 

Term of Office

On November 3, 2009, Karen was elected to fill the unexpired term in the 3rd district, vacated by former County Commissioner Bob Macleod.

Political Affiliation

Democrat

History

Karen served nine years on the Tumwater City Council, and three years on the Tumwater Planning Commission prior to that.

Along with Commissioner Wolfe, Commissioner Valenzuela was a co-founder of the Interjurisdictional Forum on Homelessness in 2003, and now represents Thurston County on its successor organization, the Thurston County HOME Consortium. She helped establish Tumwater's 3-year-old farmers market, is lead on Tumwater's newly established sister city relationship with Mubende, Uganda, and was a leader in the recent adoption of an ordinance to designate a new manufactured home park zone in Tumwater.

Commissioner Valenzuela has been a public health worker for 20 years, and hopes to concentrate her Commission work on preservation of agricultural lands and critical areas in the county, climate change, and sustainability issues.

Represents the Board of Commissioners on:

  • CAPCOM Administrative Board

  • Chehalis Basin Partnership

  • Chehalis River Basin Flood Authority

  • Coastal Caucus

  • Disability Board

  • Emergency Food and Shelter Program (FEMA)

  • EMS Council (Medic One)

  • Home Consortium

  • Human Services Review Council

  • Law and Justice Council (Chair)

  • Law Library Board

  • Law Enforcement Officers, Firefighters Disability Board

  • Olympic Regional Clean Air Agency

  • Thurston Regional Planning Council, representing CAPCOM