City leaders in Monroe, home to the Evergreen State Fairgrounds and the state’s Monroe Correctional Complex, hope to find ways to revitalize the downtown and prepare for its growth, deal with the traffic yet take advantage of opportunities that U.S. 2 brings through town, deliver public services and provide a liveable city for its approximately 17,900 residents.
Four city council positions are on the Nov. 3 ballot. Ed Davis is running unopposed for Position No. 5.
Position No. 4: Incumbent Jim Kamp, a contract project manager at Boeing and resident of nearly 20 years, was first appointed to the council in 2011, then won election to the council that year. Shyane Bradley, a software engineer for Microsoft who has lived in Monroe for three years and in Washington since 1992, is challenging Kamp for the four-year term.
Bradley said he wants to be an advocate for residents, promoting government transparency and ethics, specifically suggesting that the city’s ethics board require council members not participate in votes that involve campaign donors. Bradley also is supportive of the city’s measures to discourage panhandling, while recognizing the needs of the truly homeless.
Kamp, who previously served on the city planning commission, wants to see the creation of a East County Recreational Innovation Partnership Zone with other nearby communities that could apply for economic development grants and promote the area’s recreational and other attractions. Kamp also supports the creation of a Transportation Benefit District that could seek voter approval of a sales tax increase that would fund road improvement projects in the city.
Kamp has demonstrated care with the city’s finances and with the council’s decision-making. Voters should return him to office.
Position No. 6: Incumbent Jason Gamble, a director of technical operations at Comcast and a Monroe resident since 2003, is completing his first term in office. Patti Gibbons, who owns the Heavenly Soap shop in downtown, has lived in Monroe for five years.
Gibbons’ retail business has provided her with a perspective that could be useful to the council on the city’s business needs downtown, its traffic issues, and the issue of homelessness and panhandling. She decided to run, she said, following several council meetings on downtown parking and road projects.
Gamble is supportive of actions the council has taken recently to prepare for growth, specifically the reduction of fees for business remodeling projects. Gamble has voted against a commercial rezone in east Monroe because a U.S. 2 bypass that would serve the area is unlikely. Gamble is supportive of the wakeboard park proposal at Lake Tye as an example of the kinds of economic development projects the city should pursue.
Gamble makes considered decisions and is an advocate for mutual respect on the council. He merits a second four-year term.
At-large position: The decision by current council member Kurt Goering not to seek re-election prompted Kirk Scarboro and Patrick Daniels to file for the two-year term.
Scarboro is retired from the Navy and is the transportation director for the Monroe School District. He has lived in Monroe since 1994. Daniels, a business manager for a Bothell-based shoe manufacturer, has lived in Monroe since 1996.
Scarboro, in his work for the school district, can say he knows the city’s roads and sees opportunities for street improvements, but agrees with most that Snohomish can’t count on a bypass project for U.S. 2 anytime soon. Regarding the city’s homelessness issue, Scarboro is supportive of programs, such as Housing Hope, that directly involve those needing assistance in the solution.
Daniels says he wants to encourage more retail businesses and restaurants in the downtown and along U.S. 2 by improving streets, reducing permit fees and bringing more events to town. Daniels also has suggested commercial development at the north end of Lake Tye and manufacturing businesses near the Fryelands area.
Both Scarboro and Daniels have lived long enough in the city and have significant knowledge of their community to be of value to the council. Daniels’ professional experience and his emphasis on development issues should earn him the support of Monroe voters.
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