Karen Crowe, current president of the Maple Valley-Black Diamond Chamber of Commerce, has announced she will run for Maple Valley City Council.

Crowe has filed for Position 5, currently held by Mayor Noel Gerken, who has filed for reelection.

During a phone interview Monday, Crowe explained that she chose to run for City Council because she wants to help Maple Valley residents be heard, that local businesses need greater support from the city and the community needs to come together to help plan the city’s future.

“My No. 1 issue is getting the community involved,” Crowe said. “I don’t think we can address the other issues by making decisions in a closed environment without bringing in those community members.”

Residents of Maple Valley enjoy the lifestyle the city offers, she noted, and Crowe wants to help maintain that while “recognizing that our residents can’t continue to bear the brunt of the financial impacts.”

She points to her professional experience working for a large telecommunications company as a project manager where Crowe’s role was to bring departments together to better communicate and align divergent agendas to achieve a common goal.

In addition, her work on the board of the Maple Valley Pony baseball association as well as her time on the chamber board, Crowe explained, has helped prepare her to take on the work of a city council member.

“My vision is that as a City Council we take the time to have more frequent, informal meetings bringing together community members,” Crowe said. “We have two events a year where the city can come together. The other option is to have to come to a City Council meetings, which can be intimidating. I would like to have an alternative for people… so they can feel like they will be heard.”

As she prepares to leave the chamber board, Crowe said, she’s trying to strike a balance between the needs of residents and the needs of business owners.

“I’m trying to find a fine balance between supporting the community and encouraging the community to get involved,” she said. “How do we find that balance of bringing businesses to help defray that cost (to residents)?”

Crowe, 41, has lived in Maple Valley for nearly six years. She runs a locally based business, EnviroSpect Northwest, with her husband Michael. She has three children, two who are grown and a son at Tahoma Junior High, as well as two grandchildren.