By Leslie Moriarty
Herald Writer
SULTAN — There are no sad good-byes for retiring Sultan City Council members Robert Ostrom and Carolyn Eslick.
They aren’t going far. The two, both six-year veterans of the council, decided not to run for re-election in November, opting to sit on the sidelines for awhile.
Both have lived in Sultan for 23 years and between them they share an institutional knowledge about the city and who’s who.
"It just felt like it was time to give my seat to someone new, someone younger with lots of energy," said Ostrom, who will soon turn 70.
Five of the council’s seven positions were up for election this year with Bruce Champeaux, Robert Criswell, Dustin Boucher, Jeff Everett and Mark Raney winning election or re-election to the council.
A retired Navy man who spent more than 10 years in municipal finance, Ostrom settled in Sultan in 1978. He spent six years on the planning commission before running for city council.
In his public service, he’s learned that compromise is necessary.
"I’ve seen that new members come onto the council with strong opinions one way or the other," he said. "But the longer they are on the council, the more they move to the center. They learn to see the other side, and they learn to compromise. They become more astute politicians."
He is most proud of having been a part of many new projects in Sultan.
"We have a new community center," he said. "And we’ve added a high-tech sewer plant and a water-treatment plant. We’ve done a lot to improve our streets and our parks, and we’ve gone into the food bank business."
Until recently, Eslick owned the Dutch Cup Restaurant for 20 years. She’s lived in Sultan for 23 years and is thinking about getting into state politics.
She, too, thought it was time to see a new face on the council.
"It was time for me to do something new," she said.
She is working in the financial world and may go back to school.
Like Ostrom, she is most proud of the council’s work to establish the food bank and community center, which opened in 1999, and houses city hall and the library.
"The community center is part of the overall revitalization of downtown," she said. "It’s been a great start to that project."
She hopes the new council will come to an agreement on how to have balanced growth in the city and surrounding area.
"We can’t grow too fast," she said. "But we need to grow fast enough that we don’t lose out on what people need to live here, have jobs here and do business here."
As a longtime member of the Sultan Chamber of Commerce, Eslick said the city needs to pay attention to bringing new business to downtown.
She plans to watch, too, that the council finishes the work she helped start on the city’s emergency evacuation route.
Both Eslick and Ostrom said they think the community is coming together after some rough times. There have been recall efforts against council members and Mayor C.H. Rowe in the past few years, and several city employees who were either fired or quit.
"Since the elections in November, there has been a calmness in town," Eslick said. "The opposing sides have begun to back off, and everybody seems to be smiling at one another again.
"The problems we have to deal with are probably not over, but at least the anger is gone."
Ostrom agreed.
"Citizens need a break from all of that," he said. "I think the bad feelings are all a closed chapter, and people here are ready to go forward."
You can call Herald Writer Leslie Moriarty at 425-339-3436
or send e-mail to moriarty@heraldnet.com.
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