Snohomish County Executive Aaron Reardon and Everett Mayor Ray Stephanson will spend much of this week in Washington, D.C., talking to lawmakers and Navy officials about Naval Station Everett.
Reardon left for the nation’s capital on Monday, and Stephanson will take a red-eye flight after the City Council meeting tonight.
"Both the county executive and the mayor fully support the Navy in this community," Stephanson said. "They can count on us for help and support for the base."
The Pentagon is looking at Naval Station Everett, as well as military installations throughout the country, as the Department of Defense prepares for the next round of base closures in 2005. More than 450 military installations have been closed as part of the Base Realignment and Closure process since 1988.
And while 2005 is expected to see the biggest round of base closures yet, local leaders want Pentagon officials and others to know the importance that Naval Station Everett has for the county and the country.
But there lies the rub.
The visit will be mostly a meet-and-greet, and the military itself will be off-limits. Pentagon and Navy officials have asked the delegation not to lobby military officials on the closure process.
Still, local leaders are hoping the trip pays off. The Navy is the county’s second-largest employer, and Naval Station Everett turns 10 years old this year.
"While this trip is a get-acquainted trip, it does have BRAC overtones," Stephanson said.
"We want the leadership within the Navy to know that we’re doing our due diligence to ensure that the value of the Navy base in this community, and to national security, is understood," he said.
"And that they can expect full cooperation and support from us through that process."
The mayor and the county executive will meet Thursday with Washington’s two senators, Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray, as well as with U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen and others from the state who serve in Congress.
On Friday, Reardon and Stephanson will have several meetings with Pentagon officials.
Also making the trip is Paul Roberts, an executive director in Reardon’s office; Pat McClain, Everett’s director of governmental affairs; and Doug Roulstone, the former captain of the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis and vice president of the Everett chapter of the U.S. Navy League.
The Snohomish County delegation will pass out 20 copies of a five-minute video with scenes of the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln’s return home to Everett last year and the subsequent downtown parade, which drew an estimated 10,000 people.
Everett expects the trip to cost $3,500. The Everett School District is spending roughly $1,500 to send Roberts for work on school district issues, and the county may help cover part of his airfare. The county will cover the costs for the last two days of Roberts’ visit, plus the costs of sending Reardon.
The group is expected to return to Snohomish County on Friday.
Reporter Brian Kelly: 425-339-3422 or kelly@heraldnet.com.
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