Kirkland Chamber

“Fishermen’s Finest has been a member of the Kirkland Chamber of Commerce since we moved to Kirkland in 2011. In January 2020, Kristian Uri was named to the board of the Kirkland Chamber - we are proud and thankful to be members of the Chamber and part of the vibrant Kirkland community. ”

State of the City Address with Mayor Penny Sweet,

City of Kirkland

Mayor Sweet began her first term on the Kirkland City Council in January 2010. She served as Deputy Mayor from 2010-2011, and 2014-2015. The Kirkland City Council selected Councilmember Penny Sweet to serve as Mayor for the remainder of 2019 at their January 2 meeting. She has lived in Kirkland since 1985 and served as the Chair of the Market Neighborhood Association from 2007–2009.

Current City Council committee assignments: Legislative Work Group and Transportation Ad-Hoc Work Group.

Regional representation: Association of Washington Cities (AWC) Large City Advisory Committee, Vice Chair Cascade Water Alliance (CWA) Board, Chair CWA Finance Committee Chair, King County Metropolitan Solid Waste Advisory Committee (MSWAC), Puget Sound Regional Council (PSRC) Executive Board, Caucus Co-Chair Regional Water Quality Committee (RWQC) and Solid Waste Advisory Committee (SWAC).

About Mayor Sweet: Mayor Sweet grew up in Seattle where she attended Roosevelt High School and Shoreline Community College before beginning a career in Health Care. She participated in numerous management and leadership courses throughout her career concentrating on customer service, process and quality improvement and leadership. She trained with the Baptist Health Care Leadership Institute, the University of Washington School of Business, Antioch University and is a graduate of the inaugural class of Leadership Eastside in 2008.

She retired in 2007 as an Associate Director of Business Operations for Group Health Cooperative. Over the course of her 31-year career with Group Health, she managed business operations for five outpatient medical centers in Everett and Monroe and for the Hospitals and Specialty Centers in Seattle and Redmond since 1998. She was a member of the Group Health Community Action Teams in Seattle and on the Eastside responsible for outreach and building community relations.

Mayor Sweet moved to Kirkland in 1985 where she and her husband, Representative Larry Springer, have owned and operated The Grape Choice, a retail wine shop in downtown Kirkland for 34 years. She is a member of the Chamber of Commerce and sits on it's Public Policy Committee. She is on the Board of Directors of the Kirkland Downtown Association. She was a member of the Kirkland Downtown Action Team. She is a member of Kirkland Art Center where she served on the Board of Directors from 1987 until 1991. She served on the Kirkland Library Arts Committee and is a member of FOLK (Friends of the Library of Kirkland). She is a lifetime member of the Kirkland Heritage Society and a member of The Audubon Society and The Sierra Club.

In 1999 she founded Celebrate Kirkland, Inc., a non-profit organization that created and organizes Kirkland's annual 4th of July celebration. Since aligning Celebrate Kirkland with the Kirkland Downtown Association, she has continued to chair the event as she has for 20 years. In 2004 and 2005 she served as chair of events on the Kirkland Centennial Steering Committee.

In 2000, Mayor Sweet was the recipient of the Anne G. Owen Award for Community Service presented by the Kirkland Chamber of Commerce. She has been recognized by the Kirkland Chamber as a “Friend of Kirkland” in 2000 and in 2005 received the President’s Award. In 2016 she was awarded the William C. Woods "Above & Beyond" Award by the Chamber for outstanding community leadership.