GRANITE FALLS — In this town, you won’t hear anyone complain about too many City Council campaign signs.
That’s because there aren’t any.
Even in the lone contested race, neither candidate — incumbent Robyn Loucks and challenger Jeff Noble — has put up signs, or sent out flyers or rung doorbells.
In the other two races, incumbents Elizabeth Adams and Matt Hartman are running unopposed.
Loucks, a teacher who was appointed to the council in 2005, feels she’s well enough known around town as it is.
“To me, it’s all about the community, it’s not about the political side of it,” she said. The town is small enough that council members are recognized and people come to them with questions and comments, said Loucks, 30.
“All five of us try to be around and available,” she said.
Noble has taken laissez-faire campaigning to an even higher level. He didn’t submit a statement or photo for the voter’s pamphlet.
“I threw my name out there in the wind,” said Noble, 41. “I’m no big political person. I just like to throw in my two cents. I have no ill feelings against anybody.”
Noble said he filed for office because he’s interested in the city’s future. His father, the late Don Noble, served on the City Council for about 15 years from the late 1970s through the early 1990s, he said.
“It’s something I’ve always wanted to do,” Noble said.
After Loucks was appointed, she ran in 2005 to keep the seat for two years and is now running for a new, four-year term. She said the city has taken great strides in the past two years in improving its reputation. Community groups have worked to reduce drug use and to beautify the town with flower plantings, she said.
One of the City Council’s jobs, she said, is to help groups with permits and street closures when they need it. “We’re a small city, we can’t do it all ourselves,” she said.
Keeping the downtown area visible when the truck bypass route around the city is built as early as next year will be a challenge, she said. It will be up to the City Council to create a good business climate there, Loucks said.
“I think that’s going to be our big push,” she said.
The town also has several annexations pending, with housing developments planned in those areas. A temporary ban on sewer hookups is expected to be lifted when additions to the city’s sewage treatment plant are completed sometime next year, and city staff members are studying options for handling future growth, she said.
Noble, who works in construction, said he’d like to make sure the city’s sidewalks are in good condition. Some, he said, “are cracked and a little bit crumbled. People can trip over them.”
Reporter Bill Sheets: 425-339-3439 or sheets@heraldnet.com.
Granite Falls City Council
ROBYN LOUCKS
Age: 30
Occupation: First-grade teacher, Mountain Way Elementary School
JEFF NOBLE
Age: 41
Occupation: Operating dump trucks and other heavy construction equipment
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