Transitions can be tricky in the lives of individuals and institutions. Everett is about to enter an especially challenging period of transition in city government.
Ed Hansen appears set to leave the mayor’s office to become general manager of the Snohomish County PUD. Under Everett’s charter, the city council president, Frank Anderson, would become interim mayor. The remaining six members of the council would then be asked to fill his council seat with an interim appointee.
It’s a period of some uncertainty that will require development of better leadership among the city’s elective office holders. The situation is complicated by the unfortunately long wait for elections mandated by the city charter. Interim appointments will remain in office until the November 2003 elections.
That’s so long that it may call for a re-examination of the city charter. The council, if it chose, could put a charter amendment on the ballot as early as this September. That could set the stage for filling the interim spots as early as November or in the first part of 2003. In making a decision, the council should consider that offices are best filled by those elected to lead. Council members would want to satisfy themselves that early elections would draw quality slates of candidates.
Realism demands that the council take some account of how well Anderson can lead as an interim mayor. Immediately after the news of Hansen’s possible departure, The Herald’s editorial board expressed satisfaction with the charter process for replacing the mayor. Doubts have grown here, however, about the length of purely interim appointments. A transition that would extend for nearly a year and a half raises concerns about firm direction of the county’s largest city.
We continue to feel considerable confidence in Anderson as a public official of high integrity. His management ability is, however, largely untested, as is his eagerness for the pace of work in the Everett mayor’s office. It’s encouraging that he has business-ownership experience along with a career in the fire department.
It’s also heartening that Hansen has put together such an outstanding staff. The best indications are that a core team would willingly stay through the interim period to serve under Anderson. If the likable Anderson can delegate well, the staff’s strength will be of particular advantage.
Particularly if he is to serve until late next year, however, Anderson must do more than maintain the status quo. Everett can’t afford 18 months of that — not after all the hard work Hansen and his staff have put into making Everett a player in the Puget Sound region.
Everett City Council, after years of letting Hansen’s leadership abilities provide the dynamism, needs to be a more active part of solutions. As individuals and as a group, the council must rise to the occasion to help both Anderson and the city succeed.
Anderson must be judicious in drawing council members into roles where they can help facilitate decision making, particularly on the regional level. And he must make sure that he doesn’t rely on his longtime council colleagues at the expense of talented newcomers Arlan Hatloe and Mark Olson.
Everett is approaching a population of 100,000. Its leadership in the county is critical in decisions ranging from the Boeing Sonic Cruiser plans to transportation. Whatever the arrangements at city hall in the coming months, the city is going to need more people to step forward to offer valuable leadership in elections in 2003 and maybe sooner.
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