Everett Council veteran looks back on his terms
Published 10:54 pm Saturday, January 5, 2008
EVERETT — Everett City Council veteran Bob Overstreet has long held a reputation for being Everett’s biggest Boy Scout.
When the 71-year-old councilman retired last week, he took with him three decades of institutional knowledge of Washington’s sixth most populous city.
He has battled mayors over budget priorities and stormed out of closed-door meetings that he said should have been open to the public. He also ran for mayor and state representative as a Republican — both unsuccessfully.
But Overstreet’s proudest accomplishments aren’t headline grabbing.
They’re the everyday nuts-and-bolts work of a city councilman. Returning telephone calls from constituents, listening to concerned residents at community events and promoting the city’s agenda for the day.
“There’s not one thing like a park or a street that I could point to,” he said of his proudest accomplishment.
He did not seek re-election last fall and is being replaced on the council by pharmaceutical sales representative Shannon Affholter.
Overstreet pushed for a greater role for regional government: He was the first chairman of Snohomish County Tomorrow, and he served on several posts with the Association of Washington Cities and the National League of Cities.
He lobbied the federal government to pay to overhaul Everett’s sewer system to prevent sewage from spilling into Port Gardner Bay during big storms and he helped lay the groundwork for the revival of Everett’s downtown.
Overstreet is an Everett institution, said U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Everett.
Larsen is a former Snohomish County Council member who worked with Overstreet and the rest of the Everett council on regional issues. He’s also familiar with him because Overstreet’s daughter works for him.
“Bob Overstreet should be seen as a model for community service for anyone who is looking to run (for office) and serve or volunteer,” Larsen said.
Overstreet worked with five mayors: Bill Moore, Pete Kinch, Ed Hansen, Frank Anderson and current Mayor Ray Stephanson.
His relationship with Kinch was strained. Overstreet, who lost in a bid against Kinch for mayor in 1989, accused Kinch’s administration of withholding important information from the council.
Overstreet also fought Hansen’s administration over issues of public access. Overstreet also praises Hansen for his leadership.
“(Overstreet) was very much a stickler for the open meetings act,” said Don Hale, an Everett attorney who served as Hansen’s executive director for four years.
On several occasions while Hansen was mayor, Overstreet walked out of closed session meetings that he believed should have been open to the public, Hale said.
“People just really believed, and I think it was true, that he had tremendous integrity,” Hale said.
That’s why he was elected to City Council again and again and again, Hale said. Overstreet won six consecutive City Council elections.
Since Overstreet was first sworn in, Everett became a Navy town and its population grew to more than 100,000. City government also grew, seeing its annual budget increase from $24.7 million to $488 million.
A graduate from Washington State University’s forestry program, Overstreet continues to closely follow the Cougars and is known by friends as “Cougar Bob.” He also worked for five years for the state Department of Natural Resources and Scott Paper Co. as a forester.
He taught forestry courses at Everett Community College, before buying Puget Press, a printing business, from his father-in-law. At one point, he had 38 employees.
He also was a high school football and basketball referee for 18 years.
Overstreet, who volunteered as an adult leader of Boy Scouts of America for decades, was awarded a Silver Beaver award for distinguished service to youth.
As a councilman, Overstreet knew that the city of Everett had to get out of its provincial way of thinking and join with other communities on regional issues, Everett City Councilman Paul Roberts said.
Overstreet’s broader vision for the city, county and region “is certainly a legacy he has left and a path for those of us who remain can follow. He blazed that path and made us realize we are a part of something larger,” Roberts said.
When it comes to partisan politics, former Everett Councilwoman Judy Baker said she and Overstreet probably don’t agree a lot.
With Overstreet, city business is nonpartisan, she discovered, and she was surprised in the late 1970s when she found out how often they would agree.
She recalled once during a candidate forum for a council election that Overstreet showed up in a Boy Scout leader’s uniform.
“He had just come from a Boy Scout meeting,” Baker recalled.
During his final council meeting on Christmas Eve, Overstreet fought back tears with his family in the audience and said just a few words of gratitude.
Rather than a big retirement party, Overstreet and his wife, Myrna, in recent months mailed hundreds of invitations encouraging people to make donations to the city parks foundation to buy sculptures for a planned downtown plaza next to the Everett Performing Arts Center.
To date, the effort has netted $7,000.
Reporter David Chircop: 425-339-3429 or dchircop@heraldnet.com.
