BRIER — Catie Corpron-Smith and Pamela Lupo differ on few things when it comes to the city of Brier.
The two newcomer City Council candidates filed to run for Position 6 on the Council after no one else jumped in to do it. Both of them filed for the open position during the extended filing period in August.
It wasn’t until they both threw their hats in that they realized someone else had done so as well. The race is the only one for Brier Council with two candidates on Nov. 4 ballot.
“When I found out there was an opening, I was shocked-– I didn’t realize someone else had already done it,” Lupo said. “By the time I got there, I already had my mind set on it so I went ahead and filed also.”
Corpron-Smith said she was glad that there was finally some interest and thought it was healthy to have her and Lupo vying for the seat left open when Pos. 6 incumbent Scott Warner retired. Corpron-Smith said she was approached by City Council members to run.
Both Lupo and Corpron-Smith are longtime Brier residents.
Lupo and her husband are small business owners. Lupo has been on the city’s planning commission and is a precinct committee officer in Brier for the Republican party.
Even though City Council is a non-partisan race, Lupo made it clear she was “proud to be a Republican and I really represent them.”
Lupo said she supports adding businesses to Brier and would like to be part of bringing tourism to the city by having a museum that highlights Brier’s history. A museum would be one of Lupo’s priorities for the city.
“I can get people excited to get involved,” she said.
While saying she’s not familiar with available land to be annexed, Lupo said she favors expanding the city’s borders to add businesses.
“We can’t keep taxing homeowners in Brier; more business would bring in more revenue for the city,” Lupo said.
Corpron-Smith, who is a manager of a Seattle landscape company, said she doesn’t look at all issues as black and white but gray.
“I’ve got a lot of energy and I am very involved and keep myself educated on what is going on in the city,” she said.
Corpron-Smith’s priorities for Brier, she said, are to make some moves to bring revenue into Brier and re-establish the administration.
“We’ve just had a big change losing Wayne Kaske,” she said, referring to the resignation of the former mayor. “The Council will have to support the new mayor and the council will have to become more educated on what is going on in and around Brier.”
As far as Brier finances, she said some things need to change to be able to fund basic services.
“I’d like to open up some minds to the idea of more commercial opportunities. I’d like to stimulate some business interest by reconsidering the sign code and some other city policies that may be stopping business from coming here,” Corpron-Smith said.
If elected, Lupo or Corpron-Smith will have to be ready to make some serious decisions when it comes to Brier’s future fire and emergency medical services.
Mountlake Terrace officials have decided to contract with Snohomish County Fire District 1, leaving Brier to choose on how to provide the services.
Corpron-Smith said it’s not realistic for the city to its own service, it just costs too much.
“Brier will probably have to follow in suit with Terrace and go with Fire District 1,” Corpron-Smith said. “There is no way to avoid the price increase and I think Brier residents want to be sure they still have quality fire and EMS service.”
Lupo said she doesn’t know enough about the issue yet to make a comment.
“I would like to take a look at everything and see if there is somewhere else that can still be cut to make a difference here,” Lupo said.
The candidates differ on whether the city should build a new city hall.
Lupo said she is glad that the current City Council decided not build a new facility.
“How can they even consider a new city hall when we need to consider basic services still,” Lupo said.
Corpron-Smith said the administration would probably be fine to live with the portable building they’re in for a while longer. “But the police department’s is too unhealthy and needs to be replaced,” she said.
“The funding is already there, I think we need to go back again, scale the plans down and try to get it passed,” Corpron-Smith said.
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