Mukilteo mayoral candidates spar over finances and growth

Published 11:31 pm Tuesday, October 20, 2009

MUKILTEO — Depending on which side you talk to, Mukilteo is either in good hands, heading toward a bright future, or under the leadership of a political opportunist who cares more about his career than serving this city of 20,000.

Mayor Joe Marine says he’d like another four years to complete what he’s started. His opponent in the Nov. 3 election, Pat Smith, calls Marine a superb politician who can’t govern. Smith said he’d like to bring greater openness to the city and would be a better listener and collaborator.

The two are pitted against each other in the city’s first contested mayor’s race since 1997.

The part-time position pays $30,000 a year.

Some big questions remain to be resolved, including the future of a proposed annexation that could add 13,000 people to the city. That annexation is on hold because Snohomish County Fire District 1 is challenging its approval in court. Another issue is the potential for commercial airplane service coming to Paine Field.

Marine says he’s proud of his accomplishments as mayor and says Smith attacks him because he has no plan of his own.

Marine served on the City Council from 1998 to 2001, when he was appointed to the Legislature. He lost a re-election campaign for the statehouse seat to former Mukilteo mayor and now Snohomish County Councilman Brian Sullivan the following year.

Records show Marine has raised $11,240 and spent $7,268. His largest contributions, $1,000 each, have come from Boeing parts supplier ElectroImpact of Mukilteo and Tackitt Robinson Partnership of Everett.

Smith has raised $26,853.61, including about $8,000 from his own family, and spent $25,082, records show.

Marine says he’s proud of his first term and points to a list of what he says are his accomplishments, such as getting the new $9 million City Hall built, moving forward with construction of a new community center to replace Rosehill and encouraging changes that led to a larger holding area for ferry traffic in Old Town.

Marine said not all of his positions have been popular, but he’s gotten things done.

“That’s the problem so many times, people feel that everybody has to agree,” he said. “If you wait until everybody agrees, you’re just going to paralyze yourself.”

Smith said he’s running for mayor because he’d complained to his wife for years about the city’s lack of a long-term financial plan.

“My wife said I need to shut up and do something,” he said.

Smith says he’d offer what he terms “vision” for the city.

He says he supported the city’s original annexation plan in 2008, which was rejected by the Washington State Boundary Review Board for Snohomish County. He doesn’t like the the proposal that replaced that one, however.

“It expanded the geographic footprint to include areas that did not align with the culture and philosophy of Mukilteo, so I opposed it,” he said.

Smith is most critical about the city’s financial planning.

“We were entering very choppy waters and I just thought it was very short-sighted that we didn’t know what our future looked like,” Smith said.

Marine says a long-term financial plan is on the way soon. Accounting problems he says he inherited when he took office had to be fixed first.

“The books were a mess,” Marine said. “I went in there and fixed that.”

Standard &Poor’s last month granted Mukilteo the highest possible financial rating, a fact Marine points to as evidence that the city’s finances are in good shape.

“This is a no-frills budget,” Marine said. “I’m going department by department and we’re cutting things back. I’d rather go into a soft landing than a hard crash.”

Smith has received $500 in campaign support from the union representing Snohomish County Fire District 1 firefighters.

Smith says Marine was too hasty last April when he rejected a fire district proposal to provide firefighting and emergency medical services for the city without seeking input from the council.

Marine said there was no reason to seek council approval because the fire disrict’s proposal was too expensive and the district opposed the city’s annexation plan.

“I said, ‘I can’t negotiate with you and have you fight with me at the same time,’ ” Marine said.

For more information on Smith, go to http://pat4 mukilteo.com. For information on Marine, go to http://mukilteomayorjoe.com.