I was an employee of the city of Lynnwood for three decades. During those years, we had great leadership, and the city prospered. Lately, however, the leadership has declined to abysmal levels, and the city has suffered immeasurably as a result.
Residents and businesses have experienced soaring taxes. City services have declined. Meanwhile, the city recently blew $200,000 on a “facilities evaluation.” That really sounds like money well spent.
The current mayor is nothing more than an egotistical politician who has not a clue how to lead. He had to pay off his assistant (with $50,000 in taxpayer money) in order to get her to leave without suing the city. He supervised the building of a veritable water park, while laying off many crucial, dedicated employees and running up a $22.4 million deficit.
I am pretty sure that none of the employees, and very few of the council members, can stand him. In fact, as near as I can tell, the only people who like him at all are the few misinformed citizens who bothered to vote in the last mayoral election.
I believe that the time has come to depose this dictator, and replace him with a professional city manager. The city is like a business, and it should be run like one. Why choose a lame leader from a very shallow pool of local backslappers when a real leader could be chosen from a national trove of trained, experienced professionals? I truly believe that a well-formulated management plan would be far preferable to a series of politically motivated edicts.
David Alvar
Edmonds
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