Everett City Council
Everett, Snohomish County’s largest city at nearly 107,000, is confronting issues of growth, homeless and addiction and resolving a perceived split between its north and south ends. Issues of council governance also have received attention this year.
Four city council positions are on the ballot for Everett voters. For Position 4, incumbent Ron Gibson, seeking a sixth term is challenged by Cassie Franklin, CEO of Cocoon House. Prior to the primary election, The Herald Editorial Board endorsed Franklin. For Position 5, incumbent Scott Bader, appointed in 2012 following the death of Drew Nielsen, is running for his first full term against Charlene Rawson, an advocate for neighborhood issues. The editorial board endorsed Bader in the primary. Judy Tuohy, who won election last year to complete an unexpired term, is running unopposed for a full four-year term to Position 7.
Position 6: Incumbent Brenda Stonecipher, who is seeking her fourth term on the council, is challenged by Erik Richerson.
Richerson, who has owned a barbershop and styling salon downtown since 2007, and is a youth pastor, was born and raised in Everett. His business downtown allows him perspective on the issues of homelessness and addiction. He questions the effectiveness of the Everett Streets Initiative in addressing those problems, but he is supportive of some of its recommendations and also wants to see tighter controls on panhandling and would support reconsideration of a no-sitting ordinance.
Richerson says he would seek ways to encourage the location of “anchor” retail stores downtown and wants to make Everett more attractive to younger residents.
Stonecipher, a graduate of Cascade High School, formerly worked as director of the Bank of Everett and now is the chief financial officer at the Epiphany School in Seattle.
In recent months, Stonecipher has been a vocal advocate for transparency and open government through her support for the a switch to council committees and for direct council consideration of a proposal to elect council members by district, rather than referring the issue to the city’s charter commission for study. She also has demonstrated a reluctance to raise taxes. Last year, when the council voted to raise the city’s utility fees, she voted against the proposal, suggesting that additional budget cuts, while painful, should have been considered.
Richerson clearly is invested in and committed to his city, but Stonecipher has proved herself to be a thoughtful and valuable member of the council and should be retained.
Terrace City Council
Officials for Mountlake Terrace, a city of nearly 21,000, have a few issues ahead of them, namely finding a new city finance director following the departure of Arlene Fisher who was hired in March 2014. Fisher resigned in September in lieu of dismissal and was paid a severance of $75,000.
The city also must also decide how to move forward with its civic center plans, bond requests for which failed in 2012 and 2013.
Three city council positions are on the ballot for Mountlake Terrace voters. Bryan Wahl for Position 5 and Seaun Richards for Position 7 are running unopposed.
Position 6: Stephen “Steve” Barnes, who previously ran for the council in 2013, is running against incumbent Laura Sonmore, who was first appointed to the council in 2000 and has been returned to office four times. She currently is the council’s mayor pro tem.
Barnes did not respond to email or phone requests for a meeting with the editorial board.
Regarding the civic center proposal, Barnes has said in statements and on his website that he’s not against the city pursing a project but has opposed the last two bond measures as too costly. Barnes also is critical of the amount of time the city has spent on the issue and believes it has diverted attention from work to bring in new businesses to the city.
Sonmore says she’s proud of the city’s record in maintaining a AA bond rating and with recent additions such as the senior and community center and the conversion of a municipal golf course into Ballinger Park.
The rent payments the city is making for city offices and the need for a new police station make it important for the city to pursue the civic center project. She’s supportive of the city making another bond attempt next November following a review of the project’s scope, noting that the proposal failed to reach the 60 percent requirement by 124 votes.
As the city moves forward on finding a new finance manager and on the civic center project, Sonmore’s length of service to the city, her background and experience in lobbying for Mountlake Terrace in Olympia and Washington, D.C., merit her relection to the council.
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