As Leonard French sees it, the Mountlake Terrace City Council has not been listening to the people it represents.
French, a real estate consultant who has been a frequent critic of the city’s Town Center Plan since 2006, faces incumbent Laura Sonmore in the race for the Position 6 seat.
“I’ve been an advocate for my neighbors for going on 11 years,” French said. “I want a council that reflects the community they serve.”
Sonmore, who has served on the council since 2000, is a Boeing Co. training manager who grew up in Mountlake Terrace. She serves on the Finance Committee and as a liaison to the Arts Advisory Commission.
Sonmore said the city does listen to its residents and is open. She pointed to the public town hall meetings held to review the Town Center proposals last year as well as the city’s new Web site, audio feeds of council meetings and the fact that the city won an award for its Town Center public process as examples of openness.
French said the public meetings the city organized to gather input about Town Center were “orchestrated” to favor a predetermined path. He also said more Town Hall meetings had been promised early on but never materialized.
On affordable housing, Sonmore said the state and federal governments have to step in and the city is currently building relationships with low-income housing agencies that could help down the line.
French said he’s “not sure any city can ensure affordable housing,” and he questioned the use of the term itself.
“At the end of the day,” he said, “if you can’t afford a house, it’s not affordable.”
Sonmore said the council has accomplished much during her tenure. She pointed to upgraded streets and parks as examples.
“We’ve set a lot of policies over the years to be prudent with our spending,” she said.
French said he agreed that much has been done in the city the past few years but said “even though the council sets and approves the budget, we haven’t seen people on the council do a lot.”
He said the council’s benefited from “a run of good luck,” and “a number of fortuitous occurences that really aren’t the result of policy.”
Both candidates say the city’s finances are solid. French said it makes sense for the city, for example, to budget $1.9 million to improve streets. But he said too often, council members don’t do a good enough job explaining to citizens why money has been set aside.
To Sonmore, the major budget issues in Mountlake Terrace are the city’s dependence on gambling and the rising cost of raw materials needed for street improvements.
She also pointed to rising health care costs and employee retirement benefit payouts as items that take big chunks out of any city budget, include Mountlake Terrace’s.
She said the city’s utility infrastructure has to — and will be — improved because “we don’t want water leaks or sewer leaks in our neighborhoods.”
Overall, Sonmore said, she deserves another four years on the council because she has a “can-do” attitude.
“If I’ve made a mistake, I’ll say so,” she said, and pointed to reductions in crime, park improvements and a balanced budget as examples of the effects of her leadership.
Economic development is a great idea, French said, but “it’s not an absolute good.”
“People are our bosses,” he said. “People do not want instruction or supervision, they want representation.”
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