Thank you Anacortes! I'm honored to serve as your mayor.
I've hit the ground running with a focus on making Anacortes more affordable, more sustainable, and more responsive to the needs of our community.
Contact me at the City of Anacortes to arrange a time to meet with you or your group.
Experience · Service · Commitment
Ryan's background as a municipal attorney and former prosecutor has informed his service on the City Council since 2012, where he's advocated for smart financial choices and improvements in governance, transparency and communication, and public safety.
Ryan has been a strong advocate of improving the condition of our neighborhood streets, connecting sidewalks, and self-funding the repaving of Commercial Avenue. His priorities are to continue our investments in our parks and infrastructure while working to make Anacortes more affordable.
As a former planning director, Ryan managed people, projects, and policy. He will put that experience to work for the people of Anacortes to reform our permitting system, improve our infrastructure, and build our quality of life.
Local Service
- Anacortes Senior Activity Center Foundation Board
- Anacortes Senior College, instructor (2024)
- 29th Street Community Garden, volunteer (2009)
- Anacortes Schools Foundation (2008)
Regional/State
- Skagit County North Star Project Housing Taskforce
- Association of Washington Cities Housing Solutions Workgroup (2022)
- Northwest Career & Technical Academy General Advisory Council
Recognition
- American Institute of Certified Planners (2018)
- Association of Washington Cities Advanced Certificate of Municipal Leadership (2020)
- Skagit Land Trust Volunteer of the Year (2015)
About Ryan Donate to the Campaign
Ryan grew up in Anacortes, where his family has lived for five generations. Ryan went to college in upstate New York and law school in California, studied abroad, and traveled, but always felt a calling back to Anacortes and Fidalgo Island, and a deep connection to both the land and community. After graduating, Ryan joined the Skagit County prosecutor's office where he served for nearly a decade before moving to management of the County Planning Department as its assistant director, then to Samish as planning director. For the last three years Ryan has been in private practice, working with local governments to improve their permit processes and municipal codes. He is the principal author of a forthcoming state guidebook on how to process building and land use permit applications.
Ryan ran for City Council in 2011, motivated by opposition to a proposed water bottling plant and misguided proposed developments in the middle of residential neighborhoods. Ensuring Anacortes remains the best place in Skagit County to raise a family, send our kids to schools, and live a high quality of life is critically important to him.
Ryan and his wife Allison recently welcomed their first child, Benjamin. They live in a century-old home they've slowly remodeled in Old Town, across the street from where Allison's great-grandparents lived in the 1950s. Learn more about Ryan.
“Ryan is dedicated to the strength and future of Anacortes. His work [on the City Council] has provided a solid foundation for the city today and into the future.”
—former mayor Laurie Gere (2014-2021)
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