Retired Boeing director joins race for Sammamish council

Tom Odell announced his candidacy for the Sammamish City Council this week. In a press release on Wednesday, Odell announced that he will seek the seat now held by Jack Barry. A resident of Sammamish for 20 years, Odell lives in the Heritage Hills neighborhood in the northern end of the city. In the press release he states that “his first priority will be to listen to the citizens and advocate for the issues that will improve the quality of life in Sammamish.” Odell has identified four priorities that he believes are important to all Sammamish residents: Improving traffic congestion and providing transportation alternatives, reprioritizing city spending, emphasizing thoughtful and viable city development, and balancing property rights and values. Odell wrote that he has spent the past year regularly attending City Council and Planning Commission meetings to fully familiarize himself with the issues facing the city, and that as a retired executive, he has the time to devote to being a working City Council member. Odell, 64, has lived in Sammamish with his family since 1989. He has a MBA from the University of Minnesota and 36 years’ experience in airline planning, marketing and finance, product development, and aircraft management. After 18 years with The Boeing Company where he was a regional marketing director with responsibility for accounts in Europe and Asia, he retired last year. Odell’s wife Ruth, a long-time teacher on the plateau with the Lake Washington School District, is currently working at Blackwell Elementary. “Now is the time for me to give back to the community that I have been a part of for the past 20 years,” Odell said. “I want to help keep it a great place to live for future generations.”

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