By Jeanette McKibben
For The Herald
MOUNTLAKE TERRACE — In one of their last acts of 2001, city council members decided to spend $79,000 a year to put a better face on community relations,.
The money will be used to hire a community relations coordinator and to publish a new version of the city council newsletter, a citizens guide, a citizens survey, and community outreach activities.
The program was submitted as part of the 2002 budget, and approved by the city council Dec. 3.
The program, authorized to remain in effect for two years, is needed because the council needs to have a better relationship with the community, city manager Connie Fessler said.
"This is far more than getting our information out," Fessler said. "It’s an outreach program. The council feels that they don’t do a good job of telling their story, and they have a good story to tell."
The community relations coordinator will help the council create opportunities to have more contact with the community, Fessler said.
Council member Pat Cordova said she agrees that the city should bring back the community newspaper, but does not see why the city council needs the coordinator position.
With I-747, we’re going to be getting less revenue, she said. "The economy is going down, and that’s why you don’t hire new nonessential staff. I think you have to cut back."
"I think they (the city council) feel we aren’t getting the word out to the citizens," she added. "I’d like to walk our talk before we start to talk about what we are doing."
The program was approved just as the council ends its terms, a fact that didn’t set well with some new members.
Angela Amundson, who defeated incumbent Lonnie Williams for the Position 1 seat, said: "It appeared that it was something they wanted to push through before January. We didn’t feel the leaving council listened to us. We’ve been left out of the loop. We tried to make it very clear that we didn’t want them to push this through."
Fessler said it was follow-through on a goal that the council had set two years ago.
Amundson, who owns a local restaurant, said that the new council is already well known in the community and does not feel the program is warranted.
"It’s a bit premature," she said. "There should be an inventory of each department. We wholeheartedly need to re-evaluate our staff positions department by department, see if the position is needed and to evaluate a person’s work effort."
Doug Wittinger, taking over from Dave Gossett, who was elected to the Snohomish County Council, said he would not have voted for the position and wants to look at the vote and at the overall budget.
But, he added, "I am in favor of getting our paper back."
Wittinger said a not just this one program. "I wish the new council would have had a chance to see what was needed, and if this position was needed."
If it is, Wittinger said, then it should be prioritized that way.
Jeanette McKibben is a staff writer for The Enterprise. She can be reached at mckibben@heraldnet.com or at 425-673-6531.
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