Year in Review

How will we remember 2008?

In Lynnwood, it was the year of the recreation center, as the City Council approved a multi-million financing plan to remodel the city’s 32-year-old facility. Mountlake Terrace moved ahead with a sustainable development plan, completed several roads projects and made progress in its efforts to revamp its civic center.

January

Rec center needs more than basics

Saving money by simply renovating the city’s Recreation Center would amount to a “band-aid solution” that wouldn’t solve long-standing problems nor set the city on solid footing for the future, a consultant told the City Council Monday, Jan. 7.

“All of the issues that exist with that recreation center would still exist,” architect Keith Comes said during the council’s two-hour review of phasing options.

The city is considering Comes’ proposals for improvements to the 30-year-old recreation center, part of a municipal campus on 44th Avenue West that includes Fire Station 15, the North Administration Building — or NAB — City Hall and the library.

Options basically include renovation without expansion, renovation and expansion, as well as some options for building a free-standing site somewhere else. The city in 2004 considered building a combination recreation and community center at six locations as part of a feasibility study. Those locations, which included Wilcox Park along with the former Scriber Lake High School and an adjacent 18-acre parcel, are no longer available.

Lynnwood hires finance director

A public finance veteran who helped the city of Minneapolis dig out of a monetary hole after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, begins work this month as the city of Lynnwood’s new finance director.

John Moir served as the city of Minneapolis’ city coordinator under Mayor R.T. Rybak from 2002 to 2006, a time when that city faced tremendous debt burdens in the aftermath of a soft economy and mild recession.

He also served as Minneapolis’ chief finance officer from 1992 to 2000. Since 2006, Moir has been senior vice president of Springsted Inc., a public finance and management consultant to counties, cities, towns and special districts. He also worked for Springsted from 2000 to 2002.

Gregoire calls for sobriety checkpoints

Gov. Christine Gregoire told a crowd at a Meadowdale High School press conference she supported a law that would have allowed police to set up sobriety check points at DUI danger spots.

Twenty years ago, the Washington Supreme Court ruled checkpoints unconstitutional. That fact, plus similar concerns from legislators, doomed the proposal in Olympia before it ever became law.

Teens save classmate from flipped car

Lynnwood High School teens saved their classmate Gatlena Lat, who was trapped in a flipped car Jan 15. Students Alex Nguyen, Justin Glanville, Jessica Anthony, Derek Bride, Tyler Elliott and other good Samaritans pried Lat out of the car and saved his life.

Elks name Graham ‘Citizen of Year’

Pam Graham, program manager for a Lynnwood social service agency, was presented with Citizen of the Year honors Saturday, Jan. 12 during a dinner at the Lynnwood Elks Lodge No. 2171.

She’s been with the Family Support Center of South Snohomish County since 2000.

MLT Councilwoman Amundson resigns

Citing a family medical emergency that has caused her to miss recent meetings and her plans to leave the city, Councilwoman Angela Amundson submitted her resignation Tuesday, Jan. 22.

Amundson, who was absent, had not attended a January meeting. She also missed nine meetings in 2007.

“Once this emergency subsides, we are planning an exploratory trip to the city of New Orleans (a place, in my childhood, we once called home),” Amundson wrote in a letter dated Jan. 22. “This trip will cause me to have yet another extended absence. Upon our return, we will be moving to one of our properties outside the city of Mountlake Terrace.”

February

Lynnwood, union, reach agreement

City officials reached a settlement with the union representing 82 clerical and technical employees over an unfair labor practices complaint the union filed in 2007.

It’s the most recent city labor contract to be settled. In late 2006, the city agreed to a new contract with the union representing firefighters, and last year, the Teamsters, which represents many of the city’s utilities and maintenance employees, reached agreement on a new contract.

In October 2007, the bargaining unit for local 3035 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees filed a complaint with the Washington Public Employment Relations Commission, which acts as a mediator in public employee cases.

Brier to annex 98 new residents

This city of 6,500 could add 98 new residents with one vote next spring.

Allview Heights, 35 acres of unincorporated Snohomish County within the city limits, may become Brier’s first annexed land in at least 14 years.

So far, the annexation, initiated in 2006 by an informal petition submitted to the city by some Allview Heights residents, has passed one hurdle: The Washington State Boundary Review Board for Snohomish County, the body that reviews all annexation requests, issued a Jan. 15 decision in favor of the annexation. A 30-day appeal period ends Feb. 14.

Allview Heights is located south of 228th Street Southwest, west of 24th Avenue West and north of 231st Street Southwest.

Under state law, cities are required to annex the so-called “islands” — unincorporated areas surrounded by a city.

Old-timer says make my land your park

Standing next to a leafless locust tree, Orwin “Doc” Hageman surveyed the 7.7-acre farm where he’s lived for 50 years, just east of the city limits and Alderwood mall.

Cats roamed around his vegetable garden on a cold winter day. The retired farmer spends hours a day tending to the garden and property, which has been in city of Lynnwood hands since 2002.

Years ago, Hageman, 91, raised poultry for the eggs he’d sell in Alderwood Manor. He raised cattle for beef and even used to raise mink.

As small-scale farming declined over the years, salesmen started showing up at his door, offering to buy his property for development.

He pointed to the end of his property line.

“Don’t tell anyone,” he whispered. “But I’ve got a cemetery down there for all the salesmen.”

In 2002, Hageman sold his Tutmark Hill property to the city for $1.1 million, at least 20 percent less than he could have charged, said Laurie Cowan, city of Lynnwood parks planner.

The city plans to convert the farm, which is located outside city limits, into a neighborhood park. The land lies within the city’s urban growth area, and it’s possible that the farm and surrounding neighborhoods will be annexed into the city next year, if property owners agree.

City to phase-in rec center projects

A spruced-up recreation center may be completed by mid- to late 2010, with additional expansion to follow by mid-2013 under a timeline the City Council received during a work session Tuesday, Feb. 19.

So far, the council hasn’t decided on any plans for remodeling or replacing the 30-year-old center, located within the city’s municipal campus along the 19000 block of 44th Avenue West.

By late July, according to a timeline drawn up by Eric Wilson, a consultant with Northwest Public Affairs, the council will decide on how to pay for what’s being referred to as phase one — renovation of the recreation center and expansion of its aquatics center, complete with a new roof.

Mukilteo rebuffed in its expansion plans

It’s back to the drawing board for the city of Mukilteo, after the public body that approves new city boundaries rejected its proposal to expand the city to the south and east.

“I guess I was more shocked than anything,” Mukilteo Mayor Joe Marine said after the Snohomish County Boundary Review Board Feb. 14 rejected his city’s proposal to expand its boundaries by 3,000 acres, taking in portions of Meadowdale to the south and up to the edge of Paine Field to the east.

The board questioned Mukilteo’s boundaries and wondered how it would provide public safety and other services to new residents without first having agreements in place with those service providers

March

Survey shows bond has MLT supporters

Results of a “Community Satisfaction Survey” show that most residents would be willing to vote for a bond to pay for construction of a new civic center that includes a city hall and community center.

The firm National Research Center Inc. conducted the survey of 1,200 randomly selected residents beginning this past November.

The City Council has made infrastructure improvements one of its top goals for the coming years and a new civic center is one part of the mix. Council members reiterated their desire to move forward with examining options for a new civic center at their Feb. 23 annual retreat.

Ex-Lynnwood cop gets 15 months

Saying “his reign of thievery and deceit” ended only after he was caught, U.S. District Judge Richard Jones sentenced former Lynnwood deputy police chief Paul Watkins to 15 months in federal prison Friday, March 21.

In an afternoon filled with emotion, Watkins, who pleaded guilty Nov. 9 to one count of theft, tearfully told the judge, “I know what I did was wrong. I’m sorry.”

In addition to serving prison time, Watkins will spend two years under supervision, where his financial affairs will be monitored after prison. He’ll also pay $75,000 in restitution.

COLA increases hits district hard

The state Legislature wrapped up its session March 13, and some of its decisions, including pay raises for staff, hit districts across the state hard.

A major hit to districts came from cost of living adjustments, or COLAs, for teachers and other school staff that were not fully funded by the state.

April

Karstetter was ‘above reproach’

Former City Councilman Jared Karstetter, a longtime resident who ran an unsuccessful campaign for mayor and was known for his upfront demeanor, died Feb. 10 of an apparent stroke. He was 76.

His death came somewhat suddenly, said his son, Jared Karstetter II. His mother — and his father’s wife — Chel Karstetter, died Sept. 19 after a five-year battle with cancer.

“He took that very hard,” Karstetter said. “So, for a couple three months, he was very distraught about that. I think it was a situation where he died of a broken heart. They’d been married for 53 years.”

Wrong-way driver on I-5 charged

A Seattle man who eluded police, traveled the wrong way on Interstate 5 and apparently forced a woman to drive him to the hospital was being held in the Snohomish County Jail on $25,000 bail Tuesday, April 1.

Prosecutors have charged Samir J. Judeh with one count of attempting to elude a pursuing police vehicle for the March 18 incident, in which he allegedly drove his Chevy Monte Carlo past Mountlake Terrace Police officers who’d tried to block his exit from the Studio 6 Motel in the 6000 block of 244th Street Southwest just after 9 a.m.

Leena’s vets bring restaurant to MLT

In a city known for its dearth of independent sit-down restaurants, word of a new family-style eatery is news.

Lynnwood residents Bill and Voula Athan, Greek immigrants who arrived in the Seattle area in 1966, are veteran restaurateurs who ran Leena’s Café in Shoreline until last summer, when their middle son, Nick, took it over.

The first week of May, they opened Voula’s Good Eats in the Cascade shopping center at 4306 228th St. SW.

School district mulls cuts to fill budget gap

Cuts to special education, paraeducator hours, administrative job positions and middle school activity bus runs were among the $3.2 million in reductions Edmonds School District officials proposed to fill a budget hole.

The list of proposed cuts was unveiled April 22. The cuts eventually totaled about $3.3 million.

In addition, some Edmonds School District high schools cut teacher positions, electives and other offerings because fewer students were projected to be in their buildings in the fall.

MLT High drops small schools model

Mountlake Terrace High School decided to abandon its controversial small schools model for fall 2008 and return to being a traditional high school, due to declining enrollment.

Terrace broke itself into five small schools in fall 2003 with a grant from the Gates Foundation.

Council settles on center’s price range

The recommended plan for a refurbished recreation center won’t be the most expensive option but it won’t be the cheapest, either.

If all goes according to plan, the renovation should be completed sometime in 2010 or 2011 with expansion to follow by two or three years.

“This is a quality of life issue,” said Lynn Sordel, the city of Lynnwood’s parks, recreation and cultural affairs director. “It makes a statement that you take pride and care about the community.”

He displayed renderings of the proposed face lift during the City Council’s Monday, April 14 meeting.

May

Lynnwood man accused in assault

A 29-year-old Lynnwood man arrested in connection with the death of a Mill Creek boy was released from jail Tuesday, April 29.

The man, Robert Spillum, is accused of repeatedly punching 16-year-old Mill Creek resident Jaime D. Leavitt Wednesday, April 23. Leavitt later died at Stevens Hospital and doctors told police he’d suffered a skull fracture, according to court papers.

Majority of residents oppose fireworks ban, survey says

A majority of Lynnwood residents surveyed say they would not support a Fourth of July fireworks ban, though many are confused about what the existing city laws say they can and cannot do.

Of those queried, 63 percent said existing fireworks regulations are OK, 12 percent thought they are too restrictive and 22 percent said they aren’t restrictive enough, the survey showed.

Local girl killed, another injured by pickup

A teenage girl is dead and a 16-year-old Lynnwood girl is recovering from injuries after an out-of-control pickup truck struck them as they stood along the 3500 block of 164th Street Southwest late Friday night, May 23.

The pickup truck, a white Ford Ranger, was eastbound at about 11 p.m. when the driver lost control and the truck struck the two girls as they stood on the sidewalk. The impact killed Janelle Cooper, a sophomore at Scriber Lake High School, immediately.

The injured Lynnwood girl was taken to Harborview Medical Center with non life-threatening injuries, said Capt. Kevin Prentiss of the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office.

June

Group: Immigrants’ concerns need attention

Inaccurate information led to misperceptions causing fear and mistrust within the city’s immigrant communities last year, a task force report says.

The report, released publicly last week by the Neighborhood and Demographic Diversity Advisory Commission’s Immigration Task Force, details a host of recommendations for addressing cultural and communication barriers, fear, distrust and misperceptions that reached a crescendo late last summer and into the fall during a series of meetings between Mayor Don Gough and groups representing Latinos and other minorities.

“We definitely wanted our concerns to be voiced and our voices to be heard,” said task force member Maribel Peralez, a loan originator with Lynnwood’s Las Americas, a Latino-focused business.

Edmonds Elementary principal retires

David Meglathery retired as principal of Edmonds Elementary. Parents and students designed paper ties and wore them for a surprise march around the playground, in honor of Meglathery’s extensive tie collection.

July

MLT’s council chamber ceiling collapses

The ceiling of Mountlake Terrace City Hall’s council chambers collapsed sometime early Wednesday morning, July 16 or late Tuesday night. No one was injured.

Officials closed City Hall, 23204 58th Ave. W, shortly after discovering the collapse just before 7 a.m., said city manager John Caulfield.

“If this had occurred during a council meeting, there would have been serious, serious injuries,” he said.

Maintenance officials quickly closed off the chambers from other connected portions of City Hall and shut down the air circulation system. Workers were moved to other parts of the building or allowed to leave until air quality tests show the area is safe.

Lynnwood to get new rec center

Buoyed on by a supportive packed audience, the City Council Monday, July 28 voted 6-1 to authorize the renovation and expansion of Lynnwood’s 30-year-old recreation center at a cost of $21 to $25 million.

“In terms of dollars, this is the biggest thing we’ve done in 50 years,” said Mayor Don Gough.

The plan, which adds 15,380 square feet to the recreation center, includes a new aquatics center, locker rooms, weight room and cardio area and roof. Construction would start in 2009, with the first phase completed by 2010 or early 2011. Construction and financing for a second expansion phase has not been decided.

August

Lynnwood motel fire was arson

A Lynnwood motel fire Sunday morning, Aug. 10 was intentionally set by a woman who apparently thought starting the fire would make it easier for her to get financial aid from the American Red Cross.

The fire, a the Lynnwood Motor Inn, 18109 Highway 99, started around 9:30 a.m. Fire crews arrived to find smoke coming from the building.

Fire investigators estimated the fire caused $150,000 in damage to contents and another $250,000 in damage to the building. Guests of the motel, some of whom pay weekly rental fees, were displaced, O’Leary said.

Firefighters rescued a man from the top floor of the motel. Paramedics took three motel residents to Stevens Hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation. They were released the same day, said Lynnwood Police spokeswoman Shannon Sessions.

Terrace restaurant ransacked

Burglars ransacked a Mountlake Terrace restaurant early Thursday morning, stealing money from cash registers and making a mess.

“They broke a couple of my refrigerators, the wine rack, both cash registers,” said Timeout Burgers and Omega Mediterranean Foods owner Manu Flemetakis Thursday, Aug. 21.

Family and other volunteers worked to clean up the mess left behind by the perpetrators. Flemetakis said he expects the restaurant, which offers both Greek cuisine and American food, to be closed for at least two days, if not more.

Low WASL scores put schools on watch list

Scores on the Washington Assessment of Student Learning, or WASL, were released.

More local schools and districts — double the number from last year – were placed on a federal watch list because of their scores.

The Shoreline, Edmonds and Everett School Districts, plus 54 others statewide, did not make “adequate yearly progress”, or AYP, under the federal No Child Left Behind law in 2008.

Cedar Valley Community School in the Edmonds School District didn’t improve its WASL scores enough by a federal standard of “adequate yearly progress,” or AYP, so had to offer Cedar Valley parents the choice to send their child to another Edmonds School District school, with free transportation.

Group discusses closing schools

The Citizen’s Planning Committee, an Edmonds School District committee, began meeting to discuss the possible closure of Woodway and Evergreen Elementary schools and moving seventh and eighth graders from Terrace Park K-8 school to Brier Terrace Middle School to make room for Evergreen students.

September

Consultant says annexation is financially feasible

The city of Lynnwood could annex a large swath of unincorporated Snohomish County and make it work financially, a consultant told the City Council Monday, Sept. 15.

“There’s room here to have a pretty big annexation,” said Michael Hodgins of Berk &Associates.

Such a large annexation, however, raises larger questions about future city staffing and facility capacity that have yet to be fully addressed.

His firm presented preliminary findings of its annexation fiscal study, which takes a close-up look at the costs and benefits of annexation.

Lynnwood is gearing up to annex a substantial portion of its urban growth area, land that’s not inside city limits today but could be in the future.

Lynnwood moves forward with Maple Precinct annexation

With little fanfare, the Lynnwood City Council Monday, Sept. 22, took the first official step toward annexing a small, unincorporated residential area into the city.

In a 7-0 vote, the council agreed to implement zoning and send a letter of intent to the Snohomish County Boundary Review Board.

“After 40 years in the city, I’m extremely happy this area will be part of the city,” said Councilman Ted Hikel.

Over the next 45 days, opponents of the annexation can ask for a review board hearing through a process known as invoking jurisdiction. If that happens, the review board holds a hearing to determine whether the annexation meets the state’s annexation criteria, said Marsha Carlsen, the review board’s clerk.

If no one asks for a hearing, “it’s automatically deemed approved at the expiration of 45 days,” she said.

October

Suspect in Seattle girl’s death arrested

Police arrested Robert C. Langendoerfer, a 21-year-old Edmonds man, late Monday night, Oct. 27, in connection with the death of Britney Galindez, whose body was discovered in Lake Ballinger Oct. 21.

Langendoerfer allegedly choked, then stabbed Galindez in the neck with a screwdriver at the Lake Ballinger dock late the night of Oct. 13 or early Oct. 14, after the girl became sick in a car following a night of drinking, according to a police.

A judge has ordered Langendoerfer held on $1 million bail and ordered him not to have contact with witnesses.

Court move’s plans raise questions

Moving the city’s municipal court into a larger, rented office space two blocks away is running behind its scheduled late October completion date.

Some council members are asking not only why the project is behind schedule but whether the move was thought out well enough in advance.

“I’m not Carnac the Great, I don’t have a crystal ball to peer into,” said Council President Loren Simmonds, referring to the late talk show host Johnny Carson’s famous character Carnac the Magnificent. “But I’m not sure we can be in there before next March.”

Interurban Trail segment completed

To celebrate completion of the final stretch of Interurban Trail through Mountlake Terrace, the city Oct. 15 held a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Soon, Edmonds will tackle its piece, officials said.

In 2009, Edmonds expects to complete part of a $1 million project that will eventually connect Shoreline’s Interurban Trail segment with Edmonds’ border to Mountlake Terrace.

Making the Interurban Trail into a non-motorized access way has “been a dream since the mid-’70s,” said Brian McIntosh, parks and recreation director for the city of Edmonds.

November

Light rail coming to Lynnwood by 2023

Sound Transit voters Nov. 4 approved a $17.9 billion transit measure that aims to bring light rail to Lynnwood by 2023 and additional bus service to Snohomish County.

The measure won a simple majority in the Sound Transit district, which is spread over Snohomish, King and Pierce counties. Snohomish County voters approved of it by a 55 to 46 percent margin, according to unofficial returns Nov. 7.

“Now … we can start planning for that and we can be proactive in our choices about where we want light rail to be,” said Lynnwood City Councilman Mark Smith.

Lynnwood OKs rec center financing plan

Lynnwood’s City Council Monday, Nov. 24, agreed to a multi-million dollar financing plan to refurbish and rebuild the city’s 32-year-old recreation center.

Some taxes will go up to help pay off debt from a municipal bond anticipation note and limited general obligation bonds the city will sell to cover the cost, which has been estimated at $22 million.

The council set a maximum expense for the project of $25.5 million.

Mountlake Terrace’s recreation center turns 40

For 20 years, Donald Cobb has swum his morning laps at the Recreation Pavilion.

“It’s convenient, for one thing,” said Cobb, 80, who logs a quarter mile early each morning, five days a week.

Cobb isn’t alone. About 1,000 people a day use the Recreation Pavilion, 5303 228th St. SW, the place which, for many residents and non-residents, is the heart of Mountlake Terrace.

“A lot of people know where the pavilion is but they don’t know where City Hall is,” said Pat McMahan, a resident since 1952.

The recreational center of the city turned 40 in November. As Mountlake Terrace considers the future of its public buildings, the Pavilion, too, has reached a fork in the road, when decisions about its own future could set the tone for the next 40 years of Pavilion recreation. By the end of the year, the city will receive a full consultant’s report suggesting ways to update its Recreation and Parks Master Plan. And a task force is closely examining all city facilities, including the Pavilion.

December

Task force recommends $37.6 million civic center project

A city task force will recommend Dec. 18 that the City Council approve a new civic center — estimated to cost $37.6 million — paid for with a property tax increase voters would have to OK.

A consultant’s report, presented to the task force Dec. 3, anticipates a spring 2010 public vote on a 30-year bond measure to approve construction of an environmentally certified civic center.

Not every task force member was sold on the idea of a spring 2010 public vote. Some, like vice-chair Patrick McMahan, said they preferred waiting until 2011.

Assuming the bond measure passes in 2010, with the requisite simple majority, construction would begin in late summer 2011 and be completed by mid to late 2012.

Before that can happen, however, the City Council, which makes the final decision, will review the recommendation and hold public hearings, a process that city manager John Caulfield estimates could take up to a year — perhaps longer.

Cost estimates include $2.7 million for the temporary relocation of City Hall.

Two district schools to close

Edmonds School Board members voted to close Woodway Elementary school starting in fall 2009, and to move Terrace Park K-8 seventh and eighth graders to Brier Terrace Middle School.

A decision on closing Evergreen Elementary was delayed until March.

The closures are meant to save money.

‘Herk,’ major force in Lynnwood, dead at 83

Meryl J. “Herk” Hrdlicka, longtime Lynnwood public servant and Lynnwood’s first full-time mayor, serving for 25 years, died early Friday, Dec.19, after being hospitalized. He was 83.

In honor of his memory, Mayor Don Gough ordered flags to fly at half mast for a week.

Hrdlicka was a key figure in Lynnwood during the 1960s,’70s and ’80s. He was an early advocate of what became Alderwood mall, which opened in September 1979, was instrumental in creation of Medic 7, forerunner of the city’s emergency medical response service, police fire, parks and recreation and of SNOCOM, the regional 911 dispatch service in south Snohomish County.

Governor proposes cuts to schools

Faced with a $5 billion to $6 billion state shortfall, the public school funding picture for the coming year looked bleak as Gov. Christine Gregoire’s office proposed cuts to public schools.

Many school districts will have to make reductions for next year even if there are no state cuts. Add in state cuts on top of that and the situation could be extreme, school officials said.

Gregoire’s proposed budget carves $406 million from elementary and secondary schools and saves another $360 million by not giving teachers pay raises.

The state legislature will vote on the budget this spring.

See more photos from the year at www.enterprisenewspapers.com.