By Bob Roegner, Inside Politics

While the rest of you have been following this year’s elections for school board and city council, two races for mayor of Federal Way have been quietly flying under the radar.

In Federal Way’s current council-manager form of government, the council members chose one of their own after council elections in January to serve a two-year term as mayor.

The position is largely ceremonial and represents the city at events and chairs the council meetings. All seven council members would like to be mayor, but you have to put together four votes to get the job. That process has been informally unfolding for several months as the contenders test the water and talk to their fellow council members.

The other race for mayor has about a dozen names being discussed throughout the community and is based on changing the form of government from council-manager to a strong mayor form of government where the mayor is separately elected and serves full time as the chief executive officer.

Many of the potential candidates could be interested, but it is more likely that number will be reduced through discussions and meetings to three to five serious candidates if the public votes for the change. More on this race in another column.

Back to the current race for mayor. There are seven eligible candidates. These are current Mayor Mike Park, former mayor Jeanne Burbidge, current Deputy Mayor Jim Ferrell, former deputy mayor Linda Kochmar, council members Jack Dovey and Eric Faison, and in January when the vote takes place, new council member Dini Duclos.

This race started in a low-key manner about March. At that point you could see both Linda Kochmar and Jim Ferrell as likely candidates with Jack Dovey as a possibility.

Current Mayor Mike Park has been mayor twice and knows others want a turn. Likewise for Jeanne Burbidge, who has also already been mayor.

Eric Faison has not been mayor, but may not have the time due to work issues. Dini Duclos is too new and would likely defer to more senior council members.

Both Kochmar and Ferrell endorsed Duclos in her race for council, and while they apparently thought she was the best candidate, insiders would suggest they also might have hoped to garner her vote for mayor in January.

Both Kochmar and Ferrell, having served as the council’s deputy mayor, would like to step up. Both have tried unsuccessfully before.

Dovey is the most senior council member not to have served as mayor, but this was an election year for him, and he didn’t want to assume victory by expressing an interest in the mayor’s job.

As we progressed through the election season, most observers couldn’t count four solid votes for either Kochmar or Ferrell, and Faison’s vote started to look very important.

Also, some council members might view both Kochmar and Ferrell as potential candidates for mayor if the governmental change is made and might not want to give them a head start.

Now that the election is over and Dovey has been re-elected, his interest or non-interest may tilt the race. The vote won’t be taken until January, but by the time all the discussions are done, most insiders expect Dovey to say he wants the job and if so it would appear he has the four votes necessary to win.

The next vote, for deputy mayor, will likely swing to Faison. We are several weeks out so things could change, but check in January to see how close this crystal ball is.

Federal Way resident Bob Roegner, a former mayor of Auburn, can be reached at bjroegner@comcast.net.