Hansen, Langus gave community so much

Published 9:00 pm Friday, April 21, 2006

The April 9 Herald “In Our View” editorial was a wonderful tribute to Ed Hansen, former mayor of the city of Everett and retiring general manager of the Snohomish County PUD. Ed lifted Everett out of a serious financial crisis with his well-known eye for detail, supporters, and his extensive knowledge of the law and finance. He spent enormous amounts of time, both professionally and personally, paving the path for our highly successful Everett Events Center, as well as running the day-to-day operations of a city of nearly 100,000. He was our “watchdog,” tenacious in guarding funds belonging to the people, who pay for ever-rising power rates.

Ed’s long-time friend, Jim Langus, formerly the deputy mayor of Everett, is also retiring as chief administrative officer with the PUD. Jim made it possible for Ed to focus on issues at hand while running daily operations at the PUD. Jim also spent countless professional and personal hours at both the city of Everett and the PUD.

Not to be forgotten are the wives and families of Jim and Ed. Andi Hansen and Sharon Langus have spent countless hours working in support of their husbands’ endeavors. They were gracious enough to “lend” their husbands to we the citizens; they in turn have acted in the public interest as community volunteers and in governmental capacities. We appreciate these four fine people for a job well done and are extremely proud to call them our friends. Their expertise, support, generosity and kindness to us and to the citizens of Snohomish County is seldom seen in the public sector.

We wish Ed, Jim and their families a well-deserved retirement, and thank them whole-heartedly for making Everett and Snohomish County a better place to live, and a wonderful place to raise our families.

LYN and BUD WESSMAN

Tulalip