Some may have questioned Lynn Walty’s decisions, but no one can question his devotion to Lake Stevens.
Proof of that lies in his selfless decision to step down as mayor with 14 months left in his second term. Walty sensed a battle brewing over his leadership style. Rather than putting the city’s positive momentum at risk, he defused the situation by stepping aside.
As he does so this week, he can look back on an impressive record of success. The city has grown rapidly through annexations, an effort Walty worked at diligently for years but is just now coming to fruition. It’s good growth, the kind that Walty has long said brings a shared sense of identity to the larger community.
Until recently, the actual city of Lake Stevens was a relatively small spot on the lake’s northeastern shore. The city annexed 800 acres along the north part of the lake to Highway 9 last year, bringing its population from 7,200 to nearly 10,000. The pending Frontier Village annexation will add another 708 acres and 3,300 people and, importantly, the sales tax revenue generated by a major retail center.
Walty’s work behind the scenes was instrumental in making Lake Stevens’ growth a reality. In particular, he helped broker the merger of the area’s two sewer systems, setting the stage for major annexations.
He wants to see annexations continue, in swift but orderly fashion, until the entire Lake Stevens urban growth area has formed a single “community around the lake.”
“My heart and soul has been there” on annexations, Walty said, “and it still is.”
In the short term, annexations create big challenges for cities. Property and sales tax revenue continues to flow to the county during a transition period of more than a year. The annexing city must begin providing services right away, though, creating a temporary budget strain.
Guiding a city through that transition is a big job, and it appears Walty’s decision to do it without a full-time city administrator was a point of conflict. His style may have been too hands-on for some city officials.
But Walty’s straight-ahead attitude is just what the city needed, when it was needed most. Without it, the pace of annexation would have dragged along. Now, largely thanks to Walty’s leadership, the city is in a much stronger position to guide its own destiny.
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