Barbara Tolbert is the winner of the Elson S. Floyd Award, which honors the former Washington State University president who played a key role in establishing the WSU Everett campus.
More often these days, Barb Tolbert sees things from a bird’s eye view.
After she spent over a decade in office as Arlington’s mayor, Tolbert lost a re-election bid to Don Vanney Jr. in 2023. Tolbert served three terms as Arlington’s mayor.
With her mayoral career behind her, she’ll have more of a chance to spend time with one of her biggest loves: flying. It’s not a new thing, either. Tolbert became director of the Arlington Fly-In in 1994. She sold her plane when she took office.
“Right now what I fly is other people’s airplanes,” Tolbert quipped.
Today, the Arlington Fly-In is one of the largest general-aviation events in the county. That didn’t happen overnight and neither did improving the economic health of her community.
Coming out of the 2008 financial crisis, the economic outlook in Arlington was dire. So dire, in fact, that the city treasury had less than $100 in the bank.
“Our ending fund balance was $77,” she said. “When I took over, our financial policies required at least two months of operating expenses, which would be about $1.8 million. So we were a bit shy.”
Tolbert, along with city staff, were able to repair the city’s finances, she said. She called it her biggest victory.
Tolbert wanted to bring in jobs that would keep families local. She worries about the idea of brain drain and losing Arlington’s brightest to other places. Commutes can be detrimental to a community, too.
Driving hours to and from work every day just isn’t feasible for a healthy community, she said. That pushed her to look at a variety of options for Arlington. It also shaped her view on what the local economy could be.
“If your parents aren’t present at your basketball games and baseball games and sports activities, or concerts, or whatever it is because they’re busy commuting, then you start to tear at the fabric of family life,” Tolbert said. “I think I wanted parents to be able to live and work in the same town so they could go to those little league games and could be present for their kids.”
It has turned into a revitalization of Arlington’s downtown and a growing industrial center near the airport. Antique stores and empty storefronts used to make up much of the downtown strip, Tolbert said. Now, she said, it has become more of a small-town shopping destination.
As mayor, she pushed for programs that helped educate small business owners, a legacy she is very proud of.
“I’m really proud of the business mix that’s downtown today,” Tolbert said.
Big companies like Amazon have moved in, including a huge investment from the company in a much celebrated state-of-the-art facility that opened last year.
That complex is part of the Cascade Industrial Center, which is over 4,000 acres of industrial land near Arlington’s airport. The area received a “Manufacturing and Industrial Center” designation from the Puget Sound Regional Council in 2019.
Tolbert worked hard for that one.
“Airports can be economic engines, catalysts if they’re done properly,” Tolbert said.
Tolbert said she’s been taking some time off after her 12 years as mayor. She said she is still active on the WSU-Everett Advisory board and remains involved with the Snohomish County YMCA.
Tolbert has long admired Elson Floyd, she said, and she was thrilled to be honored with the award.
“We needed regional relationships to show other people in the region the value that Arlington has, the ability it had, the land it had, the economic and intellectual assets it had and that’s actually how I met Dr. Floyd,” Tolbert said. “He was a visionary, effective leader who really centered on the human experience.”
Jordan Hansen: 425-339-3046; jordan.hansen@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @jordyhansen.
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