When Bob Drewel looks back at his legacy after serving 12 years as Snohomish County executive, he doesn’t mention the millions of dollars that’s been poured into parks, the miles of county roads that have been paved, or the "three huge holes" the council has chided him for leaving around the county courthouse.
For Drewel, the progress is people.
"I can come up with all the policies and procedures in the world. It’s people that make programs work," Drewel said.
"I’ve just seen common people doing just remarkably consistently good work, because they care," he said.
Drewel served three terms as county executive. While he would have liked to serve another, term limits prevented him from seeking a fourth term.
"Bob Drewel is one of the few people I’ve met whose policies showed the values that he holds: his passion for human services, his belief that the government can do better," new County Executive Aaron Reardon said.
"The public expects and demands great attention. I don’t believe he ever let them down," Reardon said.
Drewel left office in a month marked by major accomplishments.
Boeing announced that Everett had been chosen as the production center for the 7E7, the company’s next generation of commercial airplanes. The County Council also inked a deal to begin building a $21.7 million flight museum at Paine Field. And Sounder commuter trains from Seattle began rolling into Everett on a regular schedule, a significant step expected to unsnarl the area’s crippling traffic tie-ups.
Drewel tried to think of a better scenario for his departure.
"I’m trying to come up with something better than the 7E7, I’m trying to come up with something better than leaving with some solid fiscal integrity, a scandal-free government," Drewel said.
He couldn’t.
During a December filled with tributes to Drewel, the Republican-controlled County Council also piled on praise for the outgoing executive.
Beyond his work for a healthy economy and his help for the unfortunate, he "kept vetoes to a minimum," council members quipped.
Council chairman Gary Nelson said Drewel preserved the dignity of the executive’s office and added that it would be hard for any other executive to match his energy.
Fighting to keep his emotions in check, Drewel gave a short thank-you speech to the council. Then, in typical Drewel fashion, he made a flip joke that held a buried message beneath the mirth as he turned to walk from the council’s chambers.
The eyes of the audience were still on the executive as he departed.
He pointed at the crowd and motioned back to the council, mocking the stern tone of a schoolmarm: "Now, pay attention!"
Then he smiled and was gone.
"This isn’t a spectator sport," Drewel said later. "To be a good citizen, you have to be actively engaged.
"But you should play by the rules. It’s not a free-for-all."
To be sure, Drewel has had his faultfinders, on the council and beyond.
Some of the harshest criticism of Drewel has come over development issues. Snohomish County had significant growing pains during his tenure, and the county’s population grew by 30 percent from 1990 to 2000.
Some critics have charged that the county has not done enough to manage growth, but instead has thrown open the door for more development while failing to put policies in place that would create quality neighborhoods. Developers, however, have long complained that it takes too long to get permits for their projects in Snohomish County.
But after more than a decade of growth management pains, polarized positions remain.
"Growth should pay for everything," Drewel said, repeating one side’s mantra. "Well, good Lord, growth’s never paid for everything."
And the retort from some builders, he said, has been "you should be paying us for doing this (development)."
He recalled the advice that Willis Tucker gave him when Tucker left office after serving as the county’s first executive after the county switched to a County Council form of government. If he could get almost half of the environmentalists to agree, and almost half of the developers, as well, "then everything was just about right. Because you couldn’t please all of those folks," Drewel said.
Still, he tried.
Drewel issued his second and third vetoes as county executive in 2003 to reject land-use laws that had been passed by the County Council and opened farmland up for development. Residents working to fight urban sprawl praised Drewel for his stand.
And Drewel also led another restructuring of the county’s Planning and Development Services department and revamped the county’s permitting process.
Progress has also been made on parks, roads and other infrastructure.
More than $40 million has been plowed into parks and open space purchases since Drewel became county executive. The county had 147 miles of gravel roads in its 1,660-mile network of roads when Drewel first took office; now there’s just 15 miles of gravel roads remaining.
The county also built the Denney Juvenile Justice Center, improved the county airport at Paine Field and constructed new facilities to handle residents’ garbage.
Those "three huge holes" by the courthouse that were part of the council’s recent tongue-in-cheek critique of Drewel’s legacy aren’t really empty.
One is filled with the county’s new underground parking garage, and the six parking floors are already installed.
The "hole" for the county’s new jail is filled with floors to the seventh level, and the third "hole" will be home to a new administration building. All three pieces are parts of the $170 million redevelopment of the county government campus in Everett.
Drewel, however, doesn’t list such bricks-and-mortar items on his resume as county executive.
Instead, he cites the county’s improved relationship with its cities or his success in saving human services programs from the chopping block in tough budget times.
Still, Drewel leaves office with some fires still smoldering.
He has taken ample heat over Brightwater, King County’s controversial wastewater treatment plant that may be built near Highway 9 in Snohomish County.
"People thought that I could have just said no to that, and put my foot down.
"First of all, I wasn’t prepared to do that. Because that would run counter to every ethic I have about doing things efficiently, effectively on behalf of taxpayers," Drewel said.
In times of declining resources, it makes sense for governments to seek partners in the region and to share the financial burden of needed infrastructure.
"I understand the people being upset. But somebody’s got to make decisions that make a positive difference for the future. And I think this is a good one."
Not every regional project has gotten Drewel’s blessing. In late 1994, he helped thwart a study that would have looked at building a major airport in Snohomish County, and helped marshal support to build a third runway at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport instead.
It was a watershed moment, one that put Snohomish County on political par with King County, as the region had long revolved around the dominant county to the south.
Snohomish County was becoming a house divided, however.
Residents in the northern part of the county had collected roughly 15,000 signatures in an attempt to create "Freedom County" by lopping 1,052 square miles off the top end of Snohomish County. The secessionist movement was repeatedly put down by the courts, but property rights fervor continued as Drewel sought re-election in 1995.
Joni Earl, who was deputy executive under Drewel for 8 1/2 years and is now the CEO of Sound Transit, recalled the meetings filled with Freedom County supporters. Despite any venom directed Drewel’s way, he clung to his resolve for civil civic discourse.
"Bob was the ultimate diplomat," Earl said.
"No matter how much people threw at him, I think Bob always maintained his cool," she said. "He always showed respect, even for the people who were not being respectful to him."
One of his greatest goals, she added, was to create a sense of respect for local government. "He wanted the public to opt back in to government."
Drewel’s energy for the job was legendary.
He often logged 70- to 80-hour workweeks throughout his career as county executive. But Drewel cut back on his workload during his second term after medics wheeled him out of the county administration building when he collapsed in his office in May 1998.
Regrets? He has a few.
People don’t understand what the families of public servants go through, he said, and the demands of his job have meant less time for his wife, Cheryl, and daughters Amy and Lindsay.
"There was a long period of time there, up until junior high (school) years, and the first couple years of high school, where I just wasn’t there."
"I owe my wife and daughters so very, very much," Drewel said. "If I live another 100 years, I’ll never be able to say thank you enough."
Drewel’s next job will see him continue to play a role as a regional leader. He will be the new executive director of the Puget Sound Regional Council, a planning agency that tackles transportation, growth and other issues in King, Kitsap, Pierce and Snohomish counties.
An Arlington-area resident, Drewel said he will stay active in the community and will watch how Reardon, his replacement, handles the reins of county government.
"After investing a substantial amount of my time over the last 144 months, I’ll watch closely," he said. "I’ll observe from a citizen’s standpoint."
"I think I’ll have a great deal to admire," Drewel added. "Aaron has been working very hard the last few weeks. He gets it. He really gets it."
Reporter Brian Kelly: 425-339-3422 or kelly@heraldnet.com.
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