MILL CREEK — "Be smart, vote for Start!"
No, wait.
"For a new start, vote for Smart!"
Huh?
Name recognition will be the first test in the race for one of two open seats on the Mill Creek City Council in Tuesday’s general election.
Pay close attention: For Position 6, incumbent John "Jack" Start is looking to hold on to his seat against challenger Jeff Smart, president of a multimedia and home computing support company.
Got that? Start is running against Smart.
"I emphasize the ‘John-Jack’ type of thing just to get a little separation between the two names," said Start, who is wrapping up his first term on the City Council. "That’s about all I can really do."
In the other race, incumbent Councilman Dale Hensley is vying for a third term against his neighbor, John Ware, who works in sales and marketing for the Quilceda Creek Winery in Snohomish.
Political newcomer Mark Bond, a Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy and former Mill Creek police officer, is running unopposed for Position 7.
Dale Hensley, 60, a retired executive dean at Everett Community College, is looking to build on the eight years he has put in on the City Council and said he wants to stick around for development of Town Center, a 23-acre retail, office, residential and entertainment area. He said his public-sector experience has served him well.
"You see a lot of people talking an awful lot about how government ought to be run more like a business," he said. "To a certain extent, that makes sense. But in a much larger sense, I don’t think it does. We don’t provide police and fire protection to make a profit, and we don’t sweep streets and keep lawns mowed to make profit."
John Ware, 36, emphasizes his business background and said he wants to bring "fresh, businesslike solutions" to the city.
John Start was elected to the City Council four years ago after writing columns about it for two years in the Mill Creek View.
"They finally said, ‘You’ve got lots of opinions; go put them in play,’" he said.
Start, 71, feels the city needs to be conservative in its taxes and efficient in providing meaningful services to residents. He also doesn’t believe the city needs to "become a medium-sized city in order to be a very desirable place to live."
Jeff Smart, 37, said he worked with state government for 10 years at Washington State University.
He wants to bring his combination of government and business experience to the council and hopes to make Mill Creek a more desirable place for businesses to locate.
Reporter Victor Balta: 425-339-3455 or vbalta@heraldnet.com.
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