Marvin O'Bleness On behalf of the Sky Valley Chamber of commerce, we'd like to welcome you all here and thank the candidates for coming down. I'm Marvin O'Bleness, I'm on the Board of Directors for the Chamber. And as a part of our…bylaws and our charter, is to provide information to the community. Which is why the Chamber is hosting this this evening. The Chamber is supporting no sides nor is it promoting any candidate. We simply gathered them here together based on questions which have been submitted from the community, and put those out so that you have an opportunity to hear what they have to say. We're going to limit them down to about a minute for each question so that we won't run forever. And they're not in-depth questions. That way we don't end up spending up all night here. Because after all, they're going to be politicians, and you know how that can go. In an opening, something that was proposed for us to go through was, read through this morning and we're going to kind of paraphrase a little bit from the speech which was given [attribution of speech was not given]. But it kind of sums up the political atmosphere, not only here, but in the United States in general and point[s] out several key points and hopefully it will allow you to draw some conclusions and settle some things a little bit. It says during the 2000 election, one of the closest in history, one of the network pundits remarked, "This certainly demonstrates how divided the country is." With the pessimistic viewpoint, I decided to take an optimistic stance. This certainly shows how balanced we are. I then decided to investigate the differences between the Democrat and Republican presidents. The closer I looked, the more I discovered similarity rather than differences. Maybe we're more united than the network guys think. First of all, all 20^th Century presidents shared similar characteristics: Male and white -- although that's expected to change with the 21^st Century, call themselves Christian, and of the 25 presidential election, 13 were won by Republicans and 12 by Democrats. So for 52 years, Republicans occupied the White House and for 48 years Democrats lived there. So really close over a long period of time, almost an even split. You can't get it any closer than that. There were two assassinations -- a Republican and a Democrat. In addition to the assassinations, two died in office, one Republican and one Democrat. It goes on and on with numerous examples of how joined and equally distributed the country has voted in people. And while we are fairly united in what we have decided, back and forth with an even distribution. And we hope that everyone keeps that in mind as we go through things, that we are working together, rather than separately. We have two people this evening, one of which is able to be here, and that is the Snohomish County Fire District #5 Commissioner Candidates, Clyde Jelinek and Mike Ingalls. We were not aware that they were having an election this year until after we had sent out the invitations, or we would have included them . So what I'm going to do know, and by virtue of where they decided to sit, I'm going to pass the mic down and they will have a minute to give themselves and opening statement and an introduction to you.

CANDIDATE OPENING STATEMENTS (back to top)

Derek Boyd For those of you who don't know me, I'm Derek Boyd. I've lived here in Sultan almost all my life except for an 8-year stint in the Marine Corps. On coming back from the Marine Corps I rode back into town. I've been, I like to think, fairly active in the local…local community efforts as far as [unintelligible], VOA, multiple things I've tried to support this town for. I have certain ideas, hopefully, that will help us on the finances of this town and as far, as far as our businesses in this town, and I guess I have a vested interest in this town. This is where I live. Thank you.

Scott Opsal Hi. I'm Scott Opsal. I'm running for position 7. I've lived in Sultan for three years. And like Derek, I also live here. [unintelligible] I'm running for council just because I want to be able to help. I've just retired basically from Boeing after 24 years as a first-level and second-level manager. I have business experience. I had my first taste in politics last year -- or two years ago -- running on the board of directors for a fairly good-sized homeowners association which had 2800 people in it. We were able to accomplish a lot in a year that we'd been struggling to do for ten years. I'm very aggressive. Very open-minded. I haven't been involved in city politics very much which is, I think, a plus for me because I'm coming in with a very open mind.

John Dick My name is John Dick and I've lived in Sultan for almost seven years. And I fell in love with this city the first day I moved here. I have a large family, and I really feel that the burden my family might place on the city, I really need to give back, either in volunteering my time or running for city council. I received lots of phone calls for people asking, "John, I need you to do this," and I'm more than willing to help out around this city. I just really, truly love it and I love all the people that live here. It's so friendly. My main reason for running for council is to open the doors of city government, to invite people to participate in their city and claim ownership in their city. And that is the root of my vision for this city. And I look forward to serving you. I want to represent all of you and listen to all of you in an open form of communication somehow. Thank you.

Mike Ingalls My name is Mike Ingalls and I've lived in Sultan since 1965. I raised children here. During those years in the 60s also, I did my active duty in the Air Force in Vietnam and other parts of the world. f I started as a firefighter, volunteer firefighter, way back in the 60s here, and I watched the city grow, those of us who have been here for so long, and very, very proud of what we've [unintelligible] here. And very, very proud of the people who've come here and brought with them all kinds of new ideas. Some of the new ideas that people have brought here are great expectations. We have in this community really big expectations and you have every right to demand those. We're taxpayers and we need representatives that will do the job for us. Six years ago I decided to run -- am I done? [referring to one-minute time signal from O'Bleness] -- six years ago I decided to run as a fire commissioner. We're not done with work yet, so I'm a politician, too, and I'm going to run again.

O'Bleness When you hear the tap, just kind of wind it up. We're not going to [unintelligible].

C. H. Rowe I'm C. H. Rowe. I'm the current mayor of Sultan. I've been here awhile, too. When I came home from the hospital, my first visit -- [unintelligible] on the other side of the track or not -- is what used to be the little pink motel where my folks [unintelligible]. In 57 years, I've made it almost a city block from my first residence. I've been the mayor here the last four years. We've had some ups and downs but we've got most of the bad times behind us. One thing we did have, we've had problems with is financing. We've gone through some real [unintelligible]. We may have some more to do, but we'll survive. We've got a lot of things working for us now. We have a new city administrator, our own city engineer, we've got that sewer shaking on the east end of town, and this month, I believe, the water will be turned on [unintelligible] hooked into the Everett water supply. And we've got numerous things and good things working for the city. Looks like that's about all I have to say now. Thank you.

Jim Flower Hello, everybody. Thanks for coming. My name is Jim Flower. I'm running for council position 5. I'm a [unintelligible] resident of the city of Sultan and I've been in business in this city for 16 years. [reads his statement from his candidate flyer/brochure] This election comes at a time when the city of Sultan finds itself at an important crossroads. The years ahead will present many tough choices for the council and many challenges. These challenges must be met by a council that is determined and prepared to work together towards solutions. This last year was an example of a council divided by politics with much council time and taxpayers' money spent, only to provide that the voting majority wanted our form of government to remain the same. It is time to choose a council member who has vision and foresight to take the City of Sultan through this crossroads (sic) and into a stable future. We need a candidate with business experience, a strong work ethic and a knowledge of financial responsibility. We the people of Sultan deserve a representative on city council who has a vested interest in Sultan, a person who's more interesting in meeting and dealing with the challenges of running the city than challenging other council member in petty disputes. Thank you.

Ben Tolson Hello. My name is Ben Tolson. I'm running for the office of mayor in the great city of Sultan. I'm a seven-year resident of Sultan, having moved here in 1996. I am currently the pastor of the Sultan Assembly of God Church. And my wife and my kids have grown to love this community. Over the last few years that have been some difficulties that have been shared, and I was asked and encouraged by several people within the community to put my name in the hat and consider running. Oftentimes people sit on the sidelines and throw stones and not get involved. And to do that to my -- for myself, I just couldn't do that. So I decided to make that jump and get into this situation. I think for all the community that's here, we do desire to have the best for Sultan take place. And hopefully tonight you can hear from our positions and get a little bit of insight into who we are, and make a good decision this September and then following in November.

John Seehuus Good evening. My name is John Seehuus. I'm currently running for position 4, Sultan city council. For those of you who don't know me, I've spent eight years with the Sultan School District as Director of Operations and four years as the Chief Financial Officer. I'm a founding member of the Highway 2 Safety Coalition, I'm currently Chairman of the Sultan Planning Commission, President of the Sultan Education Foundation, active in the community and a member of the Sportsmen's and the Eagles. The main reason I'm running right now is I want to see civility in my community. I love this community. I've lived here, well, in the community 14 years and in town the last two. And it's just made me sick what has gone on in the last, I'd say the last year. What pushed me over the edge one day was, I was standing out at the post office and I ran into somebody. And I was talking to this person who happened to be on one side of the camp. Another person drove by and I actually had the thought, "Oh, my God! Somebody's going to see me talking to them." And that's why I'm running.

FIRE DISTRICT #5 COMMISSIONER - QUESTIONS (back to top)

O'Bleness Mike, we're going to go ahead and start with you. There's only four questions and since the other candidate wasn't able to be here, then that way it'll give you the opportunity if you want, to move out into the audiences and listen to the responses a little bit. The three candidates that were not here -- Jeff Everett, Richard Hill and Clyde Jelinek -- as we complete each of the sections, we will read the statement which they have submitted for this evening. So, Mike, the first question -- Can you all hear me? Well, I can be a little bit louder. I just try not to be. The first question that we have for the Fire Commissioner's position, what are the responsibilities of the Board of Fire Commissioners?

Mike Ingalls The responsibilities of the Board of Fire Commissioners is to represent the taxpayers in a junior taxing district. We administrate the budget and we direct policy for the district. It's that simple. That's the way I see it. It's very simple. We are responsible to the taxpayers to direct policy for the district and we are responsible for your good expectations.

O'Bleness What skills, experiences, education or background do you possess that make you an asset to the fire district as a fire commissioner?

Ingalls Well, besides dealing with the -- I'm an active member of the community -- in my working career have spent 10 years with AT&T, which is a big company. Then went over to GTE and I was Communications Manager for the 747 project and was project manager there and responsible for a lot of budget issues. When I left there I went onto marketing for GTE again, and I was a representative for hospitals and I did communication systems for hospitals and large businesses. When I saw the changes that were coming in the communications industry, I decided that I would like to live permanently in this community. And I was forced to make some of the decisions that many of us have to make mid-career, and that decision was, "Am I going to go to Connecticut and work for a big corporation? Or am I going to stay in Sultan and raise my children?" My choice was to stay here in Sultan, live here and raise my children. So I started my own business. And I started a business called Pure Foods and we do food processing here in Sultan. I started that business in 1982 and that's what I've been doing ever since. What qualifies me, I think, is my business background, and really, not so much an education, but really what qualifies me is the fact that I am very, very receptive to the taxpayers and their concern about the level of service.

O'Bleness What role does the fire district play in the social and economic development of this community?

Ingalls The fire district has always been, has always played an important and vital role in the economic development and provide quality that we have in this community because it's part of the healthcare delivery system. In the case of Snohomish County Fire District #5, my fire district, you have a situation where we have now, a rapid response time. We have trained personnel responding. We have provided a level of service that is afforded an opportunity for elderly to receive quick, exact healthcare, and delivery to doctors in our hospital, if necessary, and we provided the means for industry to have the confidence of running their business and having the rapid response time with trained personnel to protect our employees. And without those essential services, we would really suffer, I believe.

O'Bleness Thank you. How do you see the District evolving over the next five to ten years, and if elected, what would your major objectives be?

Ingalls Well, I'd like to answer the last question first, and that is what are my major objectives. The last six years during my tenure as a fire commissioner, we have hired a full-time fire staff and a professional chief. And this is so we can meet the changes that we're experiences in our community. And the changes are that most of the people who used to volunteer during the day and respond to help us at the volunteer fire department aren't here during the day anymore. This is a bedroom community. Maybe some of you might be offended with me saying that, but it's more and more difficult for industry to release employees to go spend four or five hours out on fire calls or aid calls. So we had that seamless transition to a paid, professional department working hand-in-hand with the volunteers. And I can say that my next objective in this community with the fire district is to, to grow and make the changes that are necessary while we maintain our relatively low tax level that we have in this community. Fire District #5 is the lowest taxed district in the entire community.

O'Bleness As the candidates were not aware of any of the questions prior to being asked this evening, CLYDE JELINEK'S statement won't quite follow those, so I will just read that across to you. He is the only other candidate for Fire Commissioner at this time. H is reason for applying, he said:

QUESTIONS - MAYOR AND COUNCIL CANDIDATES (back to top)

O'Bleness Now, we start into these next questions for the council and the mayor, there will be some joint questions, but there will be a majority of separate questions for each, mayor candidates and council candidates. The way that we will run this, is that as the first question by your position, again, we'll start here. When we start the second question for council, it will rotate to the next person so that no person starts nor finishes. So the first question for council members -- candidates -- Given the opportunity to represent the city, do you feel you have the time and commitment necessary to be effective in this position?

Boyd It's always hard to come up with the time for anything any more. Over the years I've committed a lot to this town, and I tried my best to support everything that I possibly can. There will be time constraints and, and, and there may possible be times where those constraints become a conflict. But hopefully those will be far and few between. And I will do the best to support and be there, and support my communities (sic) and attend my committee meetings and, and [unintelligible].

Opsal I was supposed to remember the question.

O'Bleness Would you like me to rephrase that again?

Opsal No. Whenever I do anything I commit 100%. I would be available. I'm in a position -- that's one of the reasons I ran -- is now me and my wife run our own business we have flexibility to be able to come and go. Not as we please, but we can come and go. I would give 100%. I would extend, I think -- when I was on the board of directors out at [sounds like, "Skylight Tracks"], I had 100% attendance. I take stuff like this very seriously. I would be there all the time.

Dick Well, first and foremost, my family comes first. But a part of my family is the City of Sultan, and how the city grows and how the city is taken care of, affects my family. And I will be there because I want this city to be a great city. I want my children to be raised in safe and secure place with good parks and good services, and that's where my commitment comes [from]. And not only am I committed to my family and for my family, but also to the city. And I will be there at every meeting and participate and bring not only my ideas but your ideas to the city.

Flower Thank you. It seems to me that enterprising and energetic people are often pulled in many different directions. I do have one advantage, I suppose, against my opponents, is that I live and work in town so I don't have a long drive time. I won't be stuck on 522 and miss a meeting, for instance. I live five minutes away from city hall. I have a flexible type of business. Been self-employed here, a machine shop. And going to committee meetings or city hall meetings is not an issue with me. I'm there for the city and even has a track record of not even being involved with politics, I've probably been at 90% of the city council meetings [Note #1] and wasn't required to do that. So this does put me in a position where I have [unintelligible] obligations. Thank you.

Seehuus Prior to my decision to run, I contacted my employer and worked it all out, so it's not a problem. One of the problems the city is experiencing today is that a lot of current council members aren't attending their committee meetings. True, given that they're in the middle of the day, but I think that's an absolute critical part of a councilman's performance and I'll be there.

O'Bleness John? We're going to go ahead and ask the same question of the mayoral candidates, so if you could just start down there.

Male [unintelligible].

Tolson As far as my time in being able to fulfill my role as mayor, I also contacted my board of the church, and they left it up to me in that regard My involvement over the years since I've lived here, I've also oversaw the Sultan Food Bank for them up until 2000 when it was turned over to the city. And part of that time I was also the driver and procurer of food from Northwest Harvest, as well as the other suppliers that we had, so I was contributing typically anywhere from, oh, eight to ten hours a week to that project as well. I just feel at this point in time that I would like to put my best effort toward this. Mondays are actually my day off from -- I don't want to say "job" but from my position as pastor at the church.

Rowe I, uh, I'm self-employed. I have my own business, so my time's pretty flexible. Times I'm going to be away, my office help, which amounts to my wife and daughter, are very capable of running the business while I'm gone. And I've been told by at least one city employee that I am the most hands-on mayor that this town has had. [unintelligible]. Also, for the last eight years, I spent three years on the planning commission, two on the city council and almost four as mayor. I have the best attendance record, I believe, as mayor, or for -- of course, I've been of all the council people during that period of time with the planning commission [unintelligible]. The last time I checked, I missed one meeting in that period of time that was my own reasons for [unintelligible]. I've missed two as mayor when I was on city business, the rest of the time I've been there.

O'Bleness Thank you. You want to pass this down to Mr. Opsal? The second question for the council members, With the exception of September 11^th and license fee initiatives, what do you believe the major financial problems have been caused by in this city?

Opsal I would think the major financial problems would be due to a lack of good tax base. Not having enough wage-based businesses here so somebody can earn a wage and live in town. Which would then support having larger businesses or more businesses to create more revenue. (back to top)

Dick I think that the current administration inherited something real bad. And I think that they've been working hard to fix it. But I think mostly what we lack is a lot of public participation and involvement. CH has, has come around. Two years ago I would have said poor management. But he's learned. He's come around a little bit. But it's a big issue, and we all need to be involved in solving the problem. But the biggest issue is the jobs and what type of jobs, what type of businesses do we want/ Do we want an industrial park? Is that what you guys want? Do we want a bunch of 7-eleven's and Shell stations and oil change places? I don't really want that. But we do need to work together and figure out how to get over this hump.

Flower I'd like to concur with Scott Opsal over here that one of the big issues is we need a tax base. We need a tax base that can support this city, not keep it on life support. And that has to come from retail sales. Retail sales can come from many different avenues. And we're not stuck with a big box store or something like that, although they can be real revenue generators. We need to have an open mind. If a business approaches the city about moving in here, what can we do to entice them here? Can we give them a break on their impact fees and knowing that we're going to reap it later years ahead with month after month of retail sales tax. [It's] Retail sales tax that pays the bills. Not houses. We're a bedroom community but very hard (?) on services and we're not putting any money into the coffers. The school administrator pointed out to me that if he needs a few extra bucks and, [unintelligible] a $2 per thousand levy. he would get $6 per thousand levy because we don't have the tax base and they've got all that industry (sic). We need industry. We need retail sales and we need to develop an economic base. One of the things I would like to see is an economic plan developed for the city to see where we're going in this 10 to 20 years and what we're going to do about this. Because we need to run this city as a business because [unintelligible] financial problem here. Thank you.

Seehuus My answer will be really brief: tax base and opening up the budgeting process to the public with more public input. And that's all.

Boyd I think we all agree the tax base is the problem. I believe…I believe we could mitigate ourselves out of a lot of businesses coming into this town. We go so far as to try and get the funding, but nobody wishes to come here and develop. Or, or, or, or start a business or even maintain a business. We hit them so hard up front that they have trouble surviving anymore or even establishing themselves. Budget, [unintelligible] I believe are a problem. What we need to do is see what's going on with the budget. And that's it.

O'Bleness [unintelligible]. The second question for the mayoral candidates, What role will you play in fostering and maintaining relationships with stakeholder groups in the community? (back to top)

Rowe Repeat that again, Marvin?

O'Bleness What role would you play in fostering and maintaining relationships with stakeholder groups in the community?

Rowe Well, it'd be the same one I, I, uh -- same thing I've done before, I [unintelligible] and supported whatever the, the majority of the stakeholders wanted.

Tolson As a "stakeholder," are you referring to those people that own property in the community at large?

O'Bleness Correct. On any issue, whether it be business, residential or commercial, sure, in areas being impacted.

Tolson I'm a person who believes that development needs to take place within our community. And for those people who have been here 30, 40, 50 years and have invested their lives in this community and they bought property from people who cleared swampland when nobody else wanted it, and they come to that place and time in their life when they want to develop it and sell it, I say more power to them. As long as they follow the rules and regulations as set forth by the Washington Code, like the city regulations. I think we need to encourage property development. And I think building relationships with those people, there is a great history within this community, and I think that's something we need to emphasize even more as a community. I, I, I would like to leave a legacy myself like I know is in this community. And so building those relationships will have to take place for myself. I've just been around seven years.

O'Bleness Thank you. Could you pass that down here to Mr. Dick? The third question for the council candidates, What type of housing would you like to see in Sultan, and how do we try and accomplish this? (back to top)

Dick I would like to see housing that builds neighborhoods, and not just row after row after row of the same style of house. Neighborhoods are what builds cities. We talk about property rights and the guy that has the big land with the wetland and a river and all that and he wants to develop it, but I also think about the guy next door who just has a lot with a house on it, and the effect that it might have on his property rights. To accomplish that I think we need to step back and not be in such a hurry to, to go out and build these houses side-by-side or these condos or duplexes. We have to build a quality city. There's a guy over here just off of Main Street, and he's got outside--three or four feet outside his kitchen window, he's looking at a retaining wall. And it's very sad. And it's new construction that's being built there that's been approved by the City. The council made some -- or Rick, there, made some recommendations to the council about changing setbacks [note #2] and I think that's more of what is needed.

Flower Thank you. Been at some recent council meetings and I have been part of these discussions [Note #3] on increasing setbacks and increasing lot sizes. Had an interesting discussion with a realtor outside council chambers last night about what really drives this, and what it is affordable housing; what I can afford, what you can afford. Well, it was explained to me that it's what sells. It's dollars and cents is what drives the building need. And so if you have a situation where you can build a bunch of boxes right next to each other, and people will buy them, and the city okays that, then that happens. The Growth Management Act mandates higher density [See Note #4]. I have a problem with that. I have a problem with where does the sovereignty of our city end, and where does the authority of the Growth Management Act take over? If we, for instance, decide we don't want cram boxes and we want to have a minimum lot size [unintelligible], do they have the authority to ram it down our throats? Well, one example is, recently when they tried to ram sex offender housing down our throats, we just told them to go jump in a lake. Haven't heard anything back from that. But I think this is something that needs community involvement, and where do we go from here? But I know what we don't like and we've had some very unhappy residents in recent development. We can learn from that. Thank you.

Seehuus I'd like to echo what Jim Flower says. The question was what sort of housing would we like to see? Quite frankly, I'm tired of affordable housing and the box houses. I'd like to see [unintelligible] lot size, too, [unintelligible] the Growth Management. But somehow, some way [unintelligible] it can be done, and I think we can reach some sort of reasonable compromise.

Boyd I think everybody would agree that larger lot sizes for your housing is, is preferred esthetically and just overall. I would prefer to see that myself. I believe we have enough -- I don't know what [unintelligible] calls for but I know we have quite a bit of density housing already. But to get to that, you have to offer some incentive. Everybody that I know of is going to want to make the most money off their property possible. It has to be some incentive to, to develop, uh, short plat larger lot sizes or, or something. I don't know if that's a, uh, reduced mitigation fee or something, but it has to be an answer to entice these people to build these larger lot sizes. And I would push for anything like that.

Opsal Figure I might be the only one here. I actually like what we have done here in Sultan. I think if we look at some of the other cities around, and the one thing that attracted me to Sultan is where else can you drive around when you see such a mixture, you know? I think in the last few years we, as a city, grows, you see a lot of people fixing up places. That was because they take pride, which is very nice. But you have, you have a mixed city; you see manufactured housing in town, you see old houses, you see newer houses, we have townhomes, we have a few little apartments. I think what we need [unintelligible] those is respect as we grow, that we need to respect what's already, already there. So if we had a neighborhood of houses, you don't wan to put a high-rise apartment building in. If you have a bunch of townhouses and duplexes in an area, you'd want them all private family dwellings. So…the kind of housing I would like to see here is, is, nothing really changing too much except maybe people taking more pride in living in Sultan. As we grow -- our downtown area really is [unintelligible]. As we grow out on the Sultan Basin Road and things like that, I mean, I wouldn't mind seeing maybe more upscale areas in this town. That's one thing that we are lacking in Sultan. I mean, every town has their, you know, their -- for lack of a better word, the ritzy neighborhoods [Marvin gives him second "time's up" indication] -- I think that's something that eventually will probably come to Sultan, which, there again, you get that you get more tax base, you get more businesses. But otherwise, I think, I think Sultan really has a nice diverse housing plan.

O'Bleness Pass that on down to Mr. Tolson. For the mayoral candidates, How would you foster and maintain positive morale and high quality work within the city staff? (back to top)

Tolson I'd [unintelligible] as my first order of business -- and I've already made this statement to the local newspaper in a response to him, as well as the Everett Herald -- would be to call for a complete outside audit of the City's finances, with complete exposure of every fund and income expense so that every department head will know exactly where they stand. I think our situation right now is that within our city departments, too many people are envious because they don't know what's happening. I've talked with a few of the council members, and nobody really has a good grasp of the City's financial situation. And I recognize, as well as, I'm sure we all do, that the City's finances are dwindling and we are at a very difficult point. But I think if everyone has a complete understanding of what their finances are -- where the expenses are, where the income is at -- there will be a great gain of trust there between [unintelligible] of property. And that will be the great basis for us to begin with, and then work from there.

Rowe [unintelligible] note that, make mention of, we're in the process right now, we will be changing our software program in the near future so where the -- we will have the reports on a very timely basis where everybody knows where we stand. That's as far as doing things there. But outside of that, how would we -- I think the question is how do we foster morale in city staff and what was it?

O'Bleness High quality work.

Rowe We've got good staff on board already. And that is one thing -- [unintelligible] requirement they'd like to know is where they stand financially. But outside of that, we've got very capable department heads, um, we, uh, we just keep the people we, we got, keep 'em working and we got city crews now that we intend to shuffle within the Public Works Department, the [unintelligible] that I've talked about this already. We can create the parks department that would help the city look better in order to keep the city looking good, and I think those things [unintelligible].

O'Bleness Next question for council candidates. What do you see as the most important issue to face the City of Sultan in the near future, and how would you address that? (back to top)

Flower Earlier I touched on the tax base, but I think that's been rehashed enough. I think right now, one of the most glaring issues for the City of Sultan that I've witnessed in the last year is the polarization of the community, where we have an up and down situation. In my campaign I've had people walk up to me and say, "What side are you on?" And my only answer is "I'm on the side of Sultan." This is my home. And it pains me to see during a council meeting, open bickering, name-calling and when it finally came to a head, actual council members suing council members. No work getting done. It's getting to the point where it's now dysfunctional. And we can stop pointing fingers at each other and we can start working together on city issues, with this upcoming council that we have coming in -- there's a nice talent base here -- we can get some jobs done instead of wasting time. That would be the Number One issue on my [unintelligible]. Thank you.

Seehuus Stole my thunder. That's irritating. Well, as I stated, one of my reasons for running was that kind of uncomfortable position. I had dear friends in both camps and it's been really difficult and it's been tearing me apart. I love this community a lot. I have, like I said, been here about 14 years. And civility has to return and people have to come back to the table. And part of that process, you have to get the feelings out, you have to get some sort of conflict resolution going. And I'd say return to civility and get both parties back to the table and I think it would be better for the city.

Boyd Well, I know I already touched on it, but my major concern is our business tax base. I believe that's our main problem. I believe that effects our -- if we can get something -- we talked about a grant for our downtown businesses. I talked to many councilmen in the last ten years. And nothing -- I have yet to see something really happen as far as promoting downtown businesses. Or even so much as businesses up in the four lanes. Everything seems to be a convulted (sic) issue. So to me that is our main issue that we face now and is our main issue for the future. And it needs to be addressed.

Opsal I moved to Lynnwood in 1962. In 1983 I moved to Monroe. I think t hose are both towns, or cities, who have gone through what I think of as major issues in growth. I'm getting tired of moving. I'm hoping that I can count and maybe do some benchmarking, go and see what other cities are doing and if I think if our [unintelligible] grow. The size probably it is now is not going to be the same size that it is in 20 years. We have a major highway running through the middle of it, just like Monroe, [unintelligible]. We know what that does. And I think that's going to be our biggest issue; are we going to want them to stop here or drive right on through?

Dick I think there's several issues. And it's just a matter of putting them in accordance. Growth -- growth is one issue, but growth is going to happen. It's how it's going to happen that's the issue: What is it going to look like? How is it going to be? How is it going to affect the city, the people that live here now? Another, another issue, I think that might be a priority or is a priority for me is getting the information to the public, informing the public of our budget, informing the public of the decisions that the council has made. Not everybody can attend the meetings but they should be informed of what's going on in their city. There's a sample paper of this. [holds up a paper] I made -- "Sultan: It's your City." Actually, it said Bellevue at one time, but Bellevue sends this out every month, and they inform their citizens on what their Parks Department is doing, what their Public Works Department is doing. And if people are getting the information and getting their input, then we'll know how we want to grow. Because growth is going to happen and that's what the issue is.

O'Bleness This would be for Mr. Tolson. For the mayor candidates, question #4: How would you describe your leadership and management style? (back to top)

Rowe I let the department heads run their own departments. They answer, in the past they've answered to me. Now we have a city administrator who oversees what they're doing and then I monitor what the city administrator is doing. Each department head is capable of running their own department, so I, I live it up to them and let -- instead of micro-managing it.

Tolson My management style I would have to best describe as one of teamwork. The issue you have as far as leading in the community in a city like this where you have a strong mayor, you require literally a team. The mayor is not a full-time employee of the city, so his job, basically, is to -- for the best description -- coach the team. Every time you encourage someone, you come alongside someone and you find out what their job description is, you make sure that they're following through, you check in with them. You establish goals and try to help them achieve those goals. And for each department head, as they succeed, then the entire community will succeed. So I would best describe my leadership style would then be as a team leader rather than as a taskmaster.

O'Bleness Going back down to Mr. Seehuus, This will be a question for both mayoral and council candidates, so we'll just work this right straight through: If a casino or Wal-mart wanted to come to Sultan, would you approve of it or would you fight it? (back to top)

Seehuus That's a difficult question to answer. There's a lot of variables involved in that. What type of casino? Where? How large a Wal-Mart? I know they have different sizes and they're not all huge. I'm not so certain that this community is ready for a Wal-Mart. Personally, we [unintelligible].

Boyd I agree with John. There's a lot of variables there. I'd sure have to learn a lot more about the casino and what type of, what that [unintelligible]. But basically, I would be hard-pressed to fight any business that attempted to move here, unless there was a [unintelligible] for it.

Opsal With the business background I have, I know right now that wouldn't even be a reality. Wal-Mart or a casino wouldn't go because we don't have the demographics. So maybe in 35 years we can answer that question [unintelligible] in 20. Right now I'd be opposed to it, because right now this city cannot support a business like that. Not ready for it. I don't think we probably will ever be ready for it. I just don't think it's a reality. So I couldn't give you a straight answer until that, we were at that point. But I don't think we would be at that point until we had 30,000 or 40,000 people in this area, I don' think. I, personally, in my years, in the next 20-30 years, I don't think we'll see that kind of growth.

Dick There's an old saying, "If you build a casino, they will come." [laughter] I would be absolutely against a Wal-Mart. I, I'm in a business with my father. It's a small business. I haven't been in a Costco in 12 years because I believe places like that take away from little businesses and little businesses make this country move. I love downtown Sultan. I try to shop there. I try to go by and say Hi to the shop owners. And I'm just a citizen. I think it's a great little downtown mall. A Wal-Mart would wipe it out. They would be selling fireworks, they would be selling hardware, they would be selling auto parts, they wouldn't give the customer service that you get in a small store, but people will start going towards the bargains. I personally like the small store. I'll pay the higher price and I'll get the customer service. A casino, you'd have to bring and look at that. Would it benefit us, again? You would have to get the police department involved in this decision, the first department in that decision, and, of course, the people need to get involved in that decision. It wouldn't be up to seven people and a mayor to decide if a casino can come here. Personally, I just, I probably would be against it, just because of the crowds.

Rowe Myself, either one, a casino or a Wal-Mart, we'd have a lot of public hearings on it to see what the general consensus of the town is. A casino, for me, personally, I would want to know more about who the money is behind it and just more information on it before I put my stamp of approval on that. Wal-Mart? I'd want to definitely have some public input on it. I look at it from the other side. I know the one in Euphrata provides between $650,000 and $700,000 a year to city the general fund. Our general fund now is $1.5 million. Now they could take [unintelligible] another $600,000 or $700,000 in there, it would be, provide us a lot of tax base to do things with. But, if the majority of the people don't want it, then we wouldn't have it, as far as I'm concerned.

Flower This is kind of a two-edged sword. I agree with C.H. in that these types of businesses can be quite a cash cow. But at what price? I use for an example, Leavenworth was a city that was at one time just dead-broke back in the 70s. And they made a decision to go Bavarian and made a lot of money at it, but in the process they sold their soul. I wouldn't want to live in Leavenworth. It'd be like living in Disneyland. I've seen some casinos that work quite well -- with what the Tulalips are doing -- and properly managed it can be gold mine for the community. And I know a lot of seniors that got a lot of money to go to these casinos and I think we could get a lot of public support. As far as a Wal-Mart? Again, you have an opportunity for a lot of sales tax revenue. You have - it would hurt some downtown businesses. And so I believe that that one is going to have to come from a lot of community involvement on whether or not you could allow that kind of business in here. On the other hand, something that would not compete with the downtown businesses, such as a major grocery store, strip mall, that sort of thing, I would definitely be in favor of.

Tolson I'm sure you're all waiting to hear what a pastor has to say about a casino. [general laughter] I guess I'll pass this hat and I'll go from there. But anyway, I've seen how casinos impact [unintelligible]. I moved here from the Chehalis area. The Chehalis Tribal Casino impacted the city of Oakville very detrimentally. The impact upon the police was almost beyond what they could handle. I was friends with the mayor down there and he wasn't happy with the impact of that. What happens with casinos is they have the tendency to take the funds from not -- a lot of those that don't have the money to spend. And it is a devastating impact. And for our community where we have a median income of just above $28,000, our average income is $38,000. If you look down at the Sammamish Ridge area where you have an average income of almost $100,000 and a median of $89,000, the difference there is $10,000 and so is ours, but you have to look at it from a percentage standpoint. Our -- fifty percent of the people that live in the Sultan area earn less than $27,000 -- give or take -- $28,000 a year. That tells me that a lot of people live on fixed incomes. And so we don't have a large tax base to work from. We have to look at every stores (sic). Looking at a Wal-Mart or a big-box store, it will have an impact upon small business here in town. If you look at places like Colville where a Wal-Mart has gone in, and the small businesses actually, still in the downtown, survived. People have a tendency, if they're going to shop at the big box store they'll go to the big box store closest to them. There are 20,000 people that live in the valley from Sultan eastward. That's a pretty good-sized demographic area. We need to recognize that. We do need to make good decisions, we need to make advised decisions and look at this in a, in a very smart way. Also, I think we need to begin to invest in areas of other businesses that we don't have that would provide great income, such as even a Les Schwab tire store out here, something like that that would complement, not aggravate.

O'Bleness Thank you for your answers on that. Please pass the mic on down here, if you would, please. The next question is for the council candidates: What would you do to prevent another Willow Run development from occuring? (back to top)

Boyd Well, for one, I would -- partially talk about that. I'm not really into the, anymore, PUDs or PMPs or whatever they're called anymore. Uh, uh…I want to know how much high density the GMA requires us to have. We gotta be close. I don't know what's projected for the next 10 years. Uh… better supervision of it? I, I don't know. But there definitely was a problem. I felt that if it happened again…I certainly hope not.

Opsal I would have to educate myself first on what the problems with Willow Run is. I've heard the rumors. I've never seen any facts. No real facts and data tied down. The best way not to have history repeat itself is to have facts and data. So if Willow Run is having problems, the way I would stop it is to say no. Bottom line. Like I said, I'm not educated enough on the Willow Run issue to know what the problems are. I know it's a high density area in a small, in a small piece of land. But I think every community has something like that, and I'm not really sure if that's bad or good.

Dick I'm with Scott on that. I would just say no. At the time Willow Run was going through the Planning Commission and things like that, the city code book was, was something that the developers could find loopholes in. And that was one way a development like that got through. They had the loopholes and they found them. Since then the City's redone the code book, and made it harder for a development like that to come into Sultan. If it did come up and somebody wanted to build something like that, I would say no, because it's hard to say what that's going to look like in 10 or 15 years. There's at least 10 or 15 houses for sale over there already. Are they going to become renters or people -- people that rent, they don't have the vested interest in the land or the city. They rent and then they move on. If you buy, you usually stay for awhile. So I would just say no.

FlowerIt seems like we've learned some pretty hard lessons from Willow Run. They've been touched on down the line here. I think as a city [unintelligible], we're ready for larger lot sizes, increased setbacks and closing the loopholes in the building code. However, as I touched on earlier, we're stuck with this Growth Management Act that is mandating this type of housing. I would like to know, or would like to research, just how far does the Growth Management Act push us? What kind of authority to say that we actually have to have that [unintelligible]? We take the initiative and say, "This is how we want our community to be, and the Growth Management Act can take effect someplace else." Thank you.

Seehuus Well, once again, everybody in [unintelligible] here. I’m going to be really brief on the Willow Run situation. A lot of the codes have been, the loopholes in the codes have been closed. I'm going to say basically, strict adherence to the building codes to the letter, and a lot more public input on the process. I think they kind of slipped in under the radar screen, and sort of morphed into something of what it is today. I, uh -- It's an abomination.

O'Bleness The next question for mayor candidates, How would you work with the city administrator? (back to top)

Tolson That's it? I think I'll work well! [laughter] In my interaction with city administrator City Mr. Rick [Cisar], I've found him to be very insightful, a very smart person. I'm not sure if giving him two hats is a benefit or a hindrance to his abilities. But in my limited contact with him, I've found that an apparent manager -- I don't know if it's -- how we -- the hats that you do wear, Rick, in regards to what you are doing, how you're [unintelligible]. But I think the mayor is going to be the headpiece but the administrator's going to be the one that's going that's going to actually have to deal with the day-to-day management of city hall.

Rowe Well, I think we do work pretty well with Rick. He's been here now quite awhile as the city planner and has proven himself. And there was someone along the line, I think, [unintelligible] says you didn't have to be smart yourself, you just need to surround yourself with smart people. So I think that [unintelligible] with Rick. That's [unintelligible]. I think we work well together. I've got a lot of faith in him. I really like the [unintelligible] the city's going now.

O'Bleness Pass this down to Mr. Opsal, please? This is a joint question for the council and mayoral candidates: Do you feel Sultan should maintain its own police department, or contract with the county, and why? (back to top)

Opsal Maintain their own police department. I think Sultan has one of the top-notch best police departments I've ever seen.

Dick I, I believe in supporting our police department. Fred Walser is over-qualified to run our police department and we're lucky to have a man like him. September 17^th will be one year that he came back to work . It's also the day I quit smoking, for Fred. I really love the police department. They come down my street. The children, you know, they look at the cops and the cops put on their lights and they're friendly. And I believe that's a great relationship that my children build with the police department as they get older. And if the police see them as teenagers, they'll say, "Oh, that's okay. That's okay." So my children know the police. My kids and myself, I grew up, "OH, I want to be a fireman! I want to be a police officer!" Never did I ever say, "I want to be a city councilman when I was growing up." [laughter]

Rowe We need to keep our own police department. There was rumors at one time that was, that was (sic) changing to the county. That was never in my plan. There was never anyone on the council's plan that I know of. As we've had to [unintelligible] our budget down, we looked at the cost of going to the county. Only for comparison reasons. And it was -- you get a lot more advantage [unintelligible] with your own city police department. And you get better coverage. And we got the same policemen here every day. We don't rotate them every six months or every year or whatever. And as I say, the cost per-officer on the street compared to going with the county, [unintelligible] is about $20,000 a year per officer times how many is here, is how many thousands of dollars that would cost the city to go to the county. [unintelligible] not with the coverage we've got now.

Flower I remember the last time this issue came up, there was a large public meeting. And I think it was, what? About '89 or so, when Carl [unintelligible] was chief. And up at the school and it was just packed. It was probably 100 people gave testimony, 99 [unintelligible] people wanted a local police force and just one for contracting out. The Chief at the time, Carl [unintelligible], gave a tear-jerking speech about being in the trenches and there was a standing ovation. It was really an evening to remember. I still have the bumper sticker from that thing. It says, "Support your local police force. Sultan, Washington, 1986." That bumper sticker means a lot to me. It's prominent in my shop. We do have a very fine police force here. I can't say enough about them. We need more of them. Currently we do not have two cops on every shift. This is not right. We need to find the funding to make sure there are two cops on every shift. And one of those shifts, we need to have a cop in the schools. [unintelligible] schools, be friends with the kids. This is was successful just a few years ago with Jeff Shelton. It was a great hit. We just need to find the funding to do that, as we have great guys here. We were going [unintelligible] with 13 cops and now we have 7. And when times are tough and I don't have enough money, I don't think I want people [unintelligible] lock up my front door, just to save money.

Tolson I would concur. I sat down a few weeks ago with the Chief, just to find out exactly where things were at, what has happened over the last four years. I see the change that's taken place within our police force. I've seen the budget go from $928,000, dropping down to approximately $708,000. And the bottom line is, we're going to have to make some difficult decisions at some point in time. And right now the EMS levy that's on the docket, the police were wanting to do something like that to raise funds, but they, out of respect for the police --or the fire department -- wanted to allow them to get the chance to get their monies in hand. We will probably have to come back to something like that for the police department if we don't have the money within the budget to increase the support that we need. We are looking at a budget right now that's coming in from the police department somewhere around $1 million. And that's what's being requested. And hopefully keep -- there may be an increase in the police force that we have. We do…we do, uh, we, we do need to stop one thing in particular that happens in our community, and that's the training ground that Sultan has become for other police departments. We take the time to invest in them, train them, get them on their feet, and we can't afford to keep them. So need to figure out a way that we can do that.

Seehuus Well, once again I'm on the end here. [unintelligible] on the police department, living with several of them. I, just recently as a matter of fact, I spent a [unintelligible] with Commander Becker running around the town. And when I came to this community, the police was under Carl [unintelligible], and I've seen a remarkable transformation in the professionalism, the level of professionalism in our police department. I support the police department 100% and I think we need to find adequate funding for our police department.

Boyd Well, I'd agree with Ben down there. I wholeheartedly support the police department. In fact, I wouldn't mind one parked down at the end of my driveway. That said, we have to find a way to pay for it. If that… And we have our problems We have our financial problems and our financial burdens. I support our police department fully. The more, the better as far as I'm concerned. That means we have to fix our finances to be able to do that.

O'Bleness Thank you for your answers. The next question will be for mayoral candidates. Should the city promote and develop new parks in the area? The city has several parks and open space that need maintenance. To go along with that, how do you foresee financing a person or persons to be able to care for those? (back to top)

Rowe We believe we can do some structuring in the Public Works Department and create a kind of a one-person park department to start with. We believe that can be done. We being me and some of the council members have talked about it, and public works director, and I've talked a little bit about the city administrator about it.

Tolson The parks that we have right now seem to take a great deal of abuse. And sitting in and listening to the council last night, hearing about what had taken place out at Osprey Park is kind of discouraging to me. I think it reflects even back to where we don't have enough police coverage [unintelligible] watch everything. There's a lot of damage and vandalism taking place around town. Our parks areas…at this point in time, I don't feel that if we can't maintain what we have efficiently, we shouldn't expand. But furthermore, I think we need to have adequate fees being charged for those people in regards to the new homes and things like that, to cover those parks. And we need to really encourage the developers to come in to follow the established process, providing the parks that they're supposed to do wen they put in those developments. Not to close off people from using them from the surrounding town, but we do need to really take the time to invest in and maintain the parks that we currently have.

O'Bleness Would you pass it down to Mr. Dick? We are getting down towards the end. We're trying to keep this to an hour and a half tonight and we're almost there. For the council candidates, What is your opinion of mitigation and impact fees? And should growth pay its own way? (back to top)

Dick Well, just recently the council approved to keep the mitigation fees where they're at. And I thought that was a good move. And I fully support growth paying its own way. Some will argue that if developments are too expensive, people won't want to come out and build. But if you're going to come here and build, the burden shouldn't be placed on the people that live here now, it should be placed on the developer and the homeowner that purchases the new home.

Flower It's almost a moot point. I definitely think that development should pay its own way when it comes to residential. But as Candidate Dick just pointed out, there's no reason THAT existing residences should pay for new streets when it's only for the new residents. And I do support the impact fees that will [unintelligible] for the sewers, the streets, the sidewalks and parks that we'd need. There would only be one way that I would deviate from that and [it] would be for commercial development to create revenue in the future as an enticement for a large business to come in. We might look at it in a creative manner, as an investment is that we give a little bit now but the next 20-30 years we get a hell of a lot back. And that might also be an answer to some of our financial woes, instead of being so hard-lined and black and white about it. As far as residential development, definitely, 'cause an impact fee's a one-time fee. Once the house is built, the impact fee is paid, that's it. We don't hit them up for anything else again unless it's to pass a levy.

Seehuus You know, it's funny on the topic of impacts fees, when I joined the school district, I was an outsider coming in, and they gave me the business office, I was kind of growing into the mitigation fit when I drafted the first two ordinances for Sultan and the City of Gold Bar for mitigation impact fees. At the time, I struggled with them. I thought they were impressive and not necessary. Having worked in the school system and worked with the city on the planning commission and worked on being the liaison officer in the school district on behalf of the city, they're absolutely critical. And I think the council, they know why, why -- they would [unintelligible] keeping them the same. I firmly believe in them and I think development should pay its own way.

Boyd [unintelligible] commercial businesses [unintelligible], maybe there needs to be a mitigation break to entice these people to come in. As far as residential, I have no problem with mitigation fees, except that somehow we need to promote, in my mind, promote larger lot sizes. It seems like when we mitigate so much on the residential, the only ones that can afford coming in here and do that is the [unintelligible] PUDs and [unintelligible]. I don't know how we can entice somebody with a mitigation fee. I just know that somewhere along the line we have to try and promote larger lot sizes for these people that want to develop their property.

Opsal It's kind of a Catch 22. Because if you have high fees, people aren't going to move in. If people don't move in, you're not going to have the businesses because you don't have the population. I think the big majority, at least I know a lot of us in this council right now, being here only three years and John being seven years, if it wasn't for growth we wouldn't even be able to live here [unintelligible] Lynnwood 1990. The best answer I could give would be this is something that a good team would have to work on, and really look at all the in's and out's before making a good decision. I think the decision is keep it the same right now is a good decision, because this is something that takes a lot of thought. Because like I said, if you have too low a fee you have too much growth and It's [unintelligible] the fact they're not paying their way, but if it's too high, you're not going to get the people coming in which you're going to support the businesses that everybody says they want for the tax base. So it's kind of a Catch-22.

O'Bleness For the council candidates, What do you see as the greatest challenge the city faces in meeting the needs of our youth? (back to top)

Flower That's a good question. I was thinking of that one just the other day when I was on the campaign trail. That came up [unintelligible], "What are you going to do about our kids? What are you going to do about our kids that are hanging on a street corner with nothing to do?" [unintelligible]. Heard them talking in council meetings about this and that and scoffed. "Yeah, right, how long's that's gonna take?" What are we going to do about it in the meanwhile. He says, "These guys are getting into trouble. They have nothing to do after school. Trashing the park. It's just a shame." My response to him is, "What would you like to do? Would you like to donate some of your time?" And if so, if I was able to put you in touch with someone who could organize that for [unintelligible] for the city, would you volunteer your time?" He thought for a moment and said, "Yes, I would." And he gave me his number. And I think that's a start. That we've got a lot of kids that have no parents or only a token parent with nothing to do and where do they turn? So this is something we will be wrestling with in the future.

Seehuus I agree that's a tough one. I think the solution begins at home. I'm kind of stumped on this one. I think that the council should work with the community, form more partnerships that we've formed in the past. I know Sultan Safe Stop was a huge success. It's kind of petering out now, but I think it's going to require a lot more public involvement. It's not something that you can just dump at the council level and say, "What do you aim to do?" It's a two-way street.

Boyd I've been involved with Safe Stop there myself… I, I honestly don't know. Maybe we need more programs like that. I don't know what the consensus is on Safe Stop. It's had it's ups and downs, but it was something for the kids to do on Saturday evening. And maybe we just need to get more programs together that can support something like that.

Opsal My answer would be "educating the parents." We need to -- the Safe Stop is a good answer. I was involved in the City of Monroe with Monroe [unintelligible] seven with the, at the time of Chief [unintelligible] when my kids were teenagers. One thing I would like to have brought into that, though, was educating the parents. It's the parents' responsibility. Sultan is a small town. We're lucky at that. Sure, there's not all these neat things that the kids can do, but you can keep them entertained by playing baseball in their local parks and [unintelligible] lots. But it'd be nice to see, along with the Safe Stop, maybe working with the Boys and Girls' Club to be able to have some parent education classes or something.

Dick Well, I'm one of the fortunate homeowners that my house backs up to the trail from High Street to the High School. I have never had any problems with any child that has walked on that trail. I've had neighbors that have written letters to the city saying, "Close down that trail. It's a problem." Well, to me, if you close down the trail, you just move the problem to a different area of the city. I think we just need to reach out a hand to our children. We need to love our children, and don't go chase them away from a spot. See what they're doing. Get involved in their lives. Get to know them. Go introduce them to a police officer, so that they police officer knows them. If we all extend our hand to our children, they're going to grow up and they're going to be fine young men and women. And it needs to start with us. And it just needs to be something that we give to our children.

O'Bleness Pass that down to Mr. Tolson, please. This will be an at-large question for all of the candidates: What is your vision for the city of Sultan? (back to top)

Tolson Time period with that? As far as going out 5, 10, 20 years.

O'Bleness There's nothing provided.

Tolson My vision for the city of Sultan is to see the city of Sultan become self sufficient within its own tax base. [unintelligible; someone sneezes] or fearing for what's going toi be taking place in the future. We need to really investigate all of the opportunities that are before us, based upon Highway 2. Highway 2, in and of itself, is the lifeblood of this community. We want to figure out what's going to happen -- Is Highway 2 going to be bypassed around the city? And in looking at that as far as a vision, I would like to see the bypass come, in some way, shape or form, whether it's north of the city or south of the city, and create Sultan to become a destination point for visitors. People in Seattle are looking for a place to get away to. We're less than an hour away. This is the most beautiful setting you could ever ask for. And if we can invest -- find a way to invest --[ and bring in people that are willing to invest -- whether that's going to be coming up with something that you [nods to Jim Flower's comment] probably feared -- not a Bavarian Village, but something that would draw people in. The history of Sultan is not in cowboys, but it's in the railroads, it's in the logging. And it would be great to see if we could create something of a destination point, whether that be a railroad-type museum, something of that sort, to come into and create this place to become a destination point so that the city in and of itself. Get off of being the through-street for the back-up on Highway 2 that people curse every Friday and Sunday, and have it become the community that we know and love.

Seehuus Boy, I would agree with Ben on that, on that self-sufficient issue. We need to get our budget in order first. I'd like to see them revitalize downtown. I'd like to see Highway 2 improved. I've worked very hard on that, the Highway 2 Coalition. I helped form it, what? Seven years ago? I'd like to see us capitalize on our natural assets. We have a breathtaking view [unintelligible] here. As a matter of fact, I drive from Seattle to Sultan every day right down to the Sodo District. And it may sound kind of corny but I come down Highway 2, and it literally takes my breath away, every time I come down Highway and I look up. I appreciate the natural beauty of this community. And we've got something really special here. So we need to capitalize on our natural aspects. And we also -- I don't want to say the Leavenworth theme again, but some sort of theme that celebrates our area.

Boyd Well, on the short-term, I'd like to see a less animosity and just a little more community involvement and friendliness amongst everyone. And then I would like to say that it's been said for many years now, I'd sure like to see some revitalization of Main Street Sultan take place. Somehow that has to happen. And, and, and I think that whole help, asset with Highway 2, it's a huge asset that we have. It's like 18,000 cars or something over, in a period of time. It's just a huge asset, one we aren't even tapping into.

Opsal I have to agree with a lot of what everybody says. Some of what Ben was saying about the…the [unintelligible]. Actually, a bunch of us were at the Herald and we were talking about that. We were, we were asked some of the same questions and I used Snohomish as an example. It's a town that people go and visit, and they still -- and I think they're probably [unintelligible] -- they still have some good industries. And that's what I see is, there is a natural beauty here. I don't exactly what the flavor is. But we have something here. [unintelligible] got to discover what it is. And I'd love to be part of a team to be able to do some brainstorming and stuff and figure out what the destiny of this city is. 'Cause there is here -- you drive down Highway 2 and you see Haystack Mountain and the Cascades beyond there with a little snow on there and it is breathtaking.

Dick I go somewhere along the lines with Ben. I would like to see Sultan become a destination instead of a place to stop and get gas and donuts. I spent a couple of Saturdays downtown and plan to spend a few more just meeting people and introducing myself. And the two Saturdays, the three hours I spent downtown, I met three people that actually lived in Sultan. We don't shop here. We don't support our own city. We don't build our own tax base by shopping here. We need to shop and we need to start shopping here. I'm, I'm kind of an old-fashioned guy, and I want to bring being a representative of the people back to just doing that: elected by you to represent you. My vision is really in, in public participation. And that's where it needs to start. I just really believe that. And I know it's an old-fashioned way of thinking. Sometimes people go around, they shake your hand, "Oh, yeah! I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna do that!" and they get elected and they leave you behind They don't want to hear from you anymore, they don’t call you back. That's not me. I just really believe that we all need to take a piece of it and come together and make this city the best we can.

Rowe You guys are trying to make this a destination spot, and you're promoting the casino already. [unintelligible]. I think everybody here has their ideas or the time they've said [unintelligible] said, everyone has spoke and [unintelligible] reasons are good ideas about the future of Sultan. As I said awhile ago, when I was born, my parents lived right over there and I was about four years old and moved back to Arkansas which is where I got my touch of an accent from. But after high school I came back here and stayed here for two years and then I did a little stint in the Marine Corps -- not as long as Derek did --a couple years, and that was well enough for me. And I came back here again. And in 1975, I went to Alaska to help build the transatlantic Pipeline. When I was [unintelligible] I went up there to see what Alaska looked like and I wound up staying 14 1/2 years before I came back. But I came back to Sultan again. I'm now 57 years old. I can't leave [unintelligible] anymore [unintelligible] come back until I get on that rocket shit and head out of this place. But anyway, what I see is, now, is this is home for a lot of reasons for me. A [unintelligible] my friends are both from Arkansas. They're both up there at the cemetery. I've got kids that live in town and I have grandkids that are growing up here in town. I want this to be a safe, [unintelligible] environment for them to grow up in, and hopefully where they can find jobs here without having to drive out like John Seehuus said [unintelligible] in Seattle. Keep the family closer together. It's a lot better having them here than having them working in Seattle or San Diego or Denver or someplace like that. I'd like to see some development here that…jobs and keep our families close to home and make it a safe place to live.

Flower Sultan is my home. I'm very proud to live here. And 20 years I'm going to be able to make that same statement, that Sultan is my home and I'm very proud to live here. This is the 21^st Century. And it's kind of scary times for many of us [unintelligible] around the world. We feel like our corner of the world is just that little bit safer. It's a little bit more secure, maybe because of that small town atmosphere, I don't know. But there's special about Sultan that I hold onto. When I moved here, this is it and I ain't leaving. And I'm going to do the best I can to make sure Sultan's going to maintain that atmosphere for as long as I live here and so that C. H. can see his grandkids grow up. Thank you.

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