Everett City Council: Six want to shape the city’s future

Published 11:00 am Monday, October 26, 2009

EVERETT — Council members in Everett do a lot more than attend a weekly meeting.

They serve on half a dozen committees, work closely with city staff and respond to the concerns of the 101,800 people they serve.

As policymakers, the council tackles complex issues that shape the future of the city, such as a nearly half-billion-dollar budget and the planned Riverfront project. The job pays $26,280 a year.

This election, Everett voters can choose among six candidates vying for three positions. Each council member represents the entire city.

Position 1

Katie Duke, who was raised in Everett and runs her own software company, is running against incumbent Paul Roberts for Position 1.

Duke, 28, became inspired to run for office after the city brought a code enforcement action over a fence.

“Code enforcement wasted a lot of time and money to go after a 6-foot cedar fence,” she said. “My guess is there are similar cases.”

Duke says that if Initiative 1033 passes, the city should focus on essential services such as public safety. She pointed to the city’s decision to remodel a former bank into a children’s theater as a project that could be mothballed if the budget needed to be cut.*

Duke said she wants to do more than end what she described as overzealous code enforcement. She also said she’d also bring a different voice to the mainly older, male council.

Roberts, 57, a former Everett planning director who is seeking his second term on the council, said he excels at taking the long-term view of the city’s future. He favors “smart growth” — a well-designed city where people can walk, bike, work and play. The city needs to revisit its design standards to better address energy, transportation and growth, he said.

“If we think about energy prices in the next 20 years, it’s hard to imagine that it won’t be considerably more expensive,” he said. “Our ability to get here and there is going to be even more constrained. The ability to build those systems is essential.”

He’s worked to bolster economic diversity by helping bring the Navy to town. He serves on the Sound Transit board, chairs the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency and is vice chair of the state Aviation Planning Council. He helped champion the effort that brought the Boeing 787 assembly line to Everett.

Position 2

Jeff Moore and John Flowers are gunning for Position 2, the seat left open by departing Councilman Mark Olson. Both are political newcomers.

Flowers, a 68-year-old attorney, grew up in California in a blue-collar family. He said he quickly realized education was the way out of poverty. After graduating from law school, he worked at various positions in California and Washington, D.C., including serving as deputy prosecutor in Napa County. He now runs his own law firm.

Everett’s City Council is engaged in “group think” and operates with a top-down management style, he said. If elected, he’d do more to reach out to south Everett. City leaders need to do a better job tapping its citizens for solutions, he said.

He’s concerned about the city’s crime rate and believes more needs to be done to screen and train police officers. The city needs to keep jobs in Everett and that requires making sure the work force has access to education and the city supports initiatives such as a regional airport and a four-year university. He suggests a fleet of electric commuter buses would be cheaper and more effective than light rail.

Flowers also wants to encourage a healthier community with measures such as giving children free vitamins and supplements and transforming a county parking lot downtown into a central park.

Moore, born and raised in Everett, worked in the family furniture business before becoming an architect. He later moved into a career with the Everett School District, first serving as director of construction and now as director of finance.

Moore, 48, said that career path has given him a rare skill set. He understands issues as varied as land use, growth management and construction methods. He now oversees a nearly $200 million budget for the school district, which has dealt with the same belt-tightening as the city.

His priorities include economic development, the creation of more jobs and long-term financial planning. He wants to ensure a balance of affordable housing with pricier homes. He’d like to see more trails, parks and open space, especially in south Everett.

He also offers a long record of civic service, including working on the city’s planning commission and serving with the Everett Rotary Club and United Way of Snohomish County’s finance committee. Moore, who lives near Silver Lake, also led a successful effort to have his neighborhood included in the city’s borders.

Position 3

Jackie Minchew, a music teacher, is running for Position 3 against incumbent Arlan Hatloe, a retired business owner.

This is Minchew’s third try at a City Council seat. Concern over America’s reliance on a dwindling supply of oil spurred him to consider getting involved in public life in 2003. Minchew, 59, is passionately concerned about the environment, something that affects just about every facet of city government. The city ought to think long-term about how it will handle a future with fewer energy resources, he said. He wants to build a strong economy based on more than Boeing.

“We need to meet our needs locally to the greatest extent possible,” he said.

The council doesn’t do enough to listen and respond to the public, and Minchew said he’d make doing so a priority. He’d also reach out to south Everett, a section of town he said is often neglected by city leadership.

Minchew, who settled in Everett in 1990, is chair of the Lowell Neighborhood Association and a founding member and past executive chair of Democracy for Snohomish County, a progressive political action committee. He served on the mayor’s Diversity Advisory Board and is a founding member of Green Everett, a group of local activists dedicated to stainability in all its forms.

Hatloe, 68, the council president who is finishing his second term on the council, said public safety, economic development and fiscal responsibility continue to be his top priorities. He was instrumental in developing a policy to maintain a 20 percent reserve fund for the city’s budget, which has to be repaid if used. That’s helped Everett avoid layoffs and the reduction of services some other cities have experienced.

He advocated for economic development initiatives, including Boeing’s 787 program, Comcast Arena, Providence Regional Medical Center Everett, Everett Mall and Naval Station Everett.

As revenues for the city fall, Hatloe said he’ll continue to analyze the city’s wants and needs. Basic services, such as maintaining streets and parks, are needs. New projects might need to be put off. He said police, fire and emergency services wouldn’t be compromised.

Debra Smith: 425-339-3197, dsmith@heraldnet.com.

*Correction: The original version of this article posted on Heraldnet did not mention Katie Duke’s concern about Initiative 1033 when describing her priorities.