32 years ago I heard on radio they had an opening on East Wenatchee City council- and I was one of two, to put in for it, and on todays date, March 6th, 1989, I was sworn in as councilmember. It has been 9 years since I served, but it was a fun 22.5 years. I did not know I would be paid for it, I just thought it could help on my job resume. Think my first controversial decision was to replace the finance directors elected position with a mayors appointee. Second decision was probably to build a new city hall- the converted gas station where Cedars now sits- had a dangerous entrance and was very crowded. I remember a split vote when some wanted to spend our funds on buying a modular for police dept. instead of waiting to push for new city hall. I won that vote and the city hall is one of the most proud items I was involved in. (and it is paid for) It was a controversial decision was who to take over as police chief. I lost in decision of tearing the Franklin House down to build the link transfer center. I consistently voted no on the sprint boat races and wish I would have voted no on allowing city to join PFD to build Wenatchee's arena- we were promised they would not come back to us asking for any funds if we simply joined so a portion of sales tax would come back to them. I was successful to repeal the utility tax- only to have it reinstalled. Most of the time I was successful in voting down the 1% property tax yearly increases- our city paid less in property taxes than county residents based on equal comparisons and greatly helped us annex years ago.
We lost 4 to death while serving- I greatly miss Jan Nash and Ralph Aiken who were excellent council members that I leaned on greatly. We also lost Randy Webly, a police officer, who I graduated with in Coulee Dam in 73 with my wife and I. And Peggy McArthur passed away, she served on city council with me, and also was elected as finance director before I came on. In the past 8 years, we also lost Mayor McGraw, Sandra McCourt, George Buckner, Virginia Oestreich, and Larry Frack, while Dawn Collings and Chuck Johnson have moved out of the area to be near family.
Some may ask why 22.5 years and an odd number of years? That is due to I changed my council seat in 90’s, and ran for a 2 year position instead of my 4 year position- and of coarse I had to run the following November that I was appointed. I regret running against a fellow council member, but wanted to know what people felt, as well as if you run un-opposed, no one will bring out the issues.
I served under 3 mayors- Mayor Lacy was patient with me and we knew where each of us stood, but I also remind you of his giving heart- when we had a fire in our house, he offered me use of one of his houses to stay in! We had a great council- Harry Raab is only council member still serving when I was there. There are only several employees still there that I worked with and the new mayor is doing a good job. I thank the citizens who attended city council meetings- that is so important and helpful. I need to thank my family and employer for allowing me the time to devote to city council. I had several good friends who I could bounce things off and I trusted.
The city had less than 1,000 population when I took office, it now has over 15,000 I think. We had no unions, and think the police had 7 in police dept. and only five council members then instead of our seven we now have. I used to have minutes from 1989- but they were destroyed in our house fire several years ago. It would be interesting to compare wages and the number of employees comparing between 1989 and now.
I am amazed how few people contact elected officials but will instead complain to paper or friends. City council is like raising teenagers- you need to look at all sides of the story,- and sometimes, the story you are given can be slanted to benefit the teenager. And you are a councilmember and not the friend who you wish you could be at times as well.
I thank God- for his help and allowing me that opportunity to serve. I would pray silently before most meetings and never understood why I was placed in that position when there are so many more qualified people out there who he could have used and would have done a much better job. Remember, God used a mule in the Bible to get his message out.
I thank the public for putting up with me- never sure if they voted for me, no one else wanted it, or voted against my challengers? It was a great time- thank you. And I have no plans to return nor do I really miss the stress. Many decisions were already made for you per federal laws and the title of politician keeps going down sadly- it got so I would seldom tell anyone what I did.
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