Leading up to our Super Spooky Endorsement Issue, we sent out identical questionnaires to every candidate running for a seat on the Pierce County Council. Some of them got back to us, and - naturally - some of them didn't. Here's a look at the responses we did recieve.
(Note: Bruce Lachney called me to answer the questions, saying the questionnaire was like the WASL - his words, not mine.)
PIERCE COUNTY COUNCIL DISTRICT 4
TIM FARRELL – DEMOCRAT
WV: What are the most important issues facing your district, and how will you address them as a member of the Pierce County Council?
FARRELL : Education, Economic Development, Criminal Justice Reform
I go into detail about these in the below questions….
WV: What makes you qualified to serve on the Pierce County Council? What has prepared you for this job, and how will you use that preparation to serve Pierce County residents? What skills, qualities and experiences do you posses that your opponents don’t? Why are you the voter’s best choice? If you’re already seated on the council and running for reelection, what have you learned on your time on the council thus far? How has it helped you?
FARRELL: I have a record of service in government on the state and local level. Having been Chairman of the Tacoma City Planning Commission, member of the North End Neighborhood Council, and spent eight years working for Senator Kastama in Olympia, I feel that I have a well rounded resume of political and social work that enables me to defend the interests of my constituents both at the County Building and down in Olympia when the legislature is in session.
Although I admittedly am a partisan Democrat, I can and will work with members of the other party when it benefits the needs of Pierce County. I currently serve as the co-chairman of the Criminal Justice Task Force with Republican Councilmember Dick Muri and have partnered with Councilmember’s Terry Lee and Shawn Bunney in the past on legislation concerning agriculture and economic development.
What I have learned in this experience over the past four years is patience – and a lot of it at that! My mother used to tell me, “Rome wasn’t built in a day” and frankly, neither is most of the good legislation that comes out of the County Courthouse. I try not to rush things unless we are in a crisis mode. So far, it has served me well.
WV: When did you decide to run for the Pierce County council? What catalysts led to your decision?
FARRELL: I had served as a legislative assistant to Senator Jim Kastama for eight years, and had served and chaired the Tacoma Planning Commission. When the seat opened up, it was a logical step for someone who had a long standing interest in local government. I was also encouraged by many people to make the race. So, well, the rest is history. =)
WV: What is your vision for Pierce County, and how do you plan to get us there? What things need to happen to make that possible?
FARRELL: I envision a Pierce County that:
1) Incorporates transit into its planning and land use decisions. I see a change in the way we permit development in unincorporated Pierce County – giving preferences to transit orientated development and redevelopment of existing, outmoded land uses.
2) Places extra effort in advancing early childhood learning to prepare our children for school.
3) Invests in its infrastructure by enacting housing and economic development studies that are currently languishing in committee.
4) Streamlines development services so that a homeowner who needs to get a permit for his deck can do so without requiring multiple trips to the Annex to complete the task.
5) Focuses on offering alternative transportation avenues to allow bicyclists to safely and quickly go from city to unincorporated county and beyond.
6) Becomes a model for preserving farmers on their farmland and keeping our agricultural resources productive for years to come. We can do this through an aggressive transfer and purchase of development rights program. The tools are in place, we just need to keep working on it.
WV: How will you address the economic issues facing Pierce County? What needs to happen for Pierce County’s economy to prosper? How far off are we? What’s standing in the way, and what will you do to change it?
FARRELL: If I am reelected to the council, I will push for the creation of a separate Economic Development Committee that devotes its time to implementing the unanimously approved Economic Development Survey and Plan that we just accepted a few weeks ago. Our current Economic Development Committee is more of a catch-all committee and lacks the focus that a real ED Committee should. There are many good, solidly progressive ideas in that survey and we need to enact as many as we can of those that benefit all Pierce County residents.
I would also push for a separate business advisory committee geared to learn from small businesses ways to best make the county work with them to improve our economic climate.
Finally, I would continue to support the efforts of the Prosperity Partnership to identify and recruit business sectors that are positively aligned with the ones already here in Pierce County.
WV: What needs to happen to create Pierce County jobs?
FARRELL: In my discussions with potential employers considering a move to the county, almost always, I get asked two things. First, do you have enough qualified potential employees to meet our needs and secondly, what is the condition of your transportation infrastructure.
Given this, we need to focus on improving our educational system and transportation system. I go into detail below on how to improve transportation in Pierce County so I will focus here on education.
We can do three things in Pierce County to change the way we prepare people for the workforce.
Invest strongly in early childhood learning. All studies show that a child’s success will be based on the tools they learn in the first five years of their lives. Expanding programs like Head Start and working with our Health Department to help parents prepare their kids for school are examples of how county government can become actively involved without competing with local school districts.
Fund local workforce training programs to help teens learn the proper tools on how to be successful on the job.
Work with the legislature to continue to push for the expansion of UW Tacoma.
WV: What needs to happen to address transportation issues in Pierce County, and find ways to ease congestion?
FARRELL: I think we need to take a good hard look at our Transportation Plan and do three things:
Incorporate transportation alternatives into our long range planning. We need to further explore the use of rail, bus rapid transit, and even bicycle and walking trails need to be added into the mix of how we move people around the county.
Target our existing resources to the areas where we are currently failing concurrency and fund them first. After that, we need to determine if other roads that are planned are still viable options given our current financial environment. Some planned projects may no longer meet our needs and we need to simply not build them.
Make a real effort to include Pierce Transit into our land use decision making. The price of gas is lower now, but when the economy ramps up again, the fuel needs of China and India will drive the prices back up again. It is my goal to make the county, and our citizens better prepared next time.
WV: What needs to happen to address the deficiencies in Pierce County’s criminal justice system? Please outline the deficiencies you see.
FARRELL: We need to address the following four concerns:
Too many criminals are cycling out of the jail – 20% of the people going into our jail are responsible for 40% of the arrests.
Our judicial system is not moving cases out of criminal court fast enough to keep up with the prisoners awaiting trial.
Our prosecutor and defense attorney offices are woefully inadequate to handle the amount of staff we have. Some of their offices are smaller than 8 x 8 and have three people working in them.
The Sheriff’s Department has trouble recruiting and retaining enough deputies to maintain 24 hour coverage of the county.
WV: What needs to happen to address sprawl in Pierce County? Do you see it as a problem?
FARRELL: Pierce County is the poster child of bad urban development. The passage of the landmark Washington State Growth Management Act was a direct result of the problems we faced in the county. However, although the era of general zoning ended in 1994, properties that were vested continue to be developed. The challenge for us now is how to provide services when our communities are so spread out. When the economy ramps up again, and the cost of gasoline again reaches $5 and $6 a gallon, we will be challenged to find a cost effect method of mass transit to ensure that people living in suburbia can afford to remain there and commute to work. The other obvious challenge is the rising cost of utilities and roads to service the outlaying communities in Pierce County. How we will address those issues will depend greatly on the outcome of several voter and government initiatives that are currently on the ballot.
WV: What’s your take on the balance between taxes with meeting the needs of your constituents? Currently, how do you believe Pierce County is doing with that balance? Are there changes that need to be made? Where is there room for improvement? Are there specific spending cuts you’d like to see made? Are there specific taxes you’d like to see raises?
FARRELL: Since my district is all incorporated, the fight for me is making sure my constituents get the most benefit they can for the tax dollars they pay into the system. Most of our tax structure is based on State and Federal set asides – sales and property taxes being the most obvious examples. I think where I would like to see some changes would be additional tax authority from the state with a referendum requirement that would be used for public safely, transit, parks, roads, and economic development opportunities. While many of my constituents have told me they would like to keep taxes where they are, they also ask for additional services. A “Moving Pierce Forward” tax package that could be debated and discussed thoroughly with the public – both the costs and benefits of passage – would be a welcome change. Basically, a discussion like “if you want to see this – it will cost this much – given that, do you want to move in that direction?” dialogue.
WV: What are voters in your district looking for from their Pierce County Council representative, and how do you plan on delivering it?
FARRELL: I think voters are looking for a leader who will make local governments from the Port to the School Board work together for the benefit of our community.
Eleven percent of our property taxes and a portion of our sales taxes go towards funding county government. It has been my goal of the past four years to bring county government home to the people of Tacoma and Ruston. From the purchase of the property adjacent to Snake Lake by the county’s conservation program to the financing of several local neighborhood improvement projects, our office has sought out partnerships wherever we could find them to make our tax dollar stretch as far as it could. I will continue to look for ways for our governments to work together to bring necessary services home to Tacoma and Ruston.
In addition, I believe that our district wants an accessible representative. I have published my home phone and e-mail account and I strive for an open door policy in my office. Shortly after I was elected, I advocated for recording of all our meetings, and televising all committee and council meetings. Our citizen’s forum is on a weekly basis and it allows residents to speak to whatever topic they desire. Openness in government is the best policy to ensure a healthy debate of the challenges we face as a community.
WV: How will you balance the interests of your district with what’s best for Pierce County as a whole? Will there be any obstacles in doing that? Do you feel what’s best for your district is what’s best for Pierce County, or are there situations that will be different?
FARRELL: You guys don’t toss softballs, do you? I am elected by the voters of my district, and I feel obligated to pursue their needs. However, I am unlikely to commit to something that may deliver short term benefits to my constituency that would result in a long term drain on county resources.
As I represent all incorporated Pierce County, I find myself mostly playing on the defensive against rural interests. I believe public safety is first and foremost our responsibility as a county government. Although not a single resident of my district benefits directly from adding more deputy sheriff’s in the county, I still routinely support ensuring that we have coverage countywide. Criminal behavior anywhere in our county will adversely affect our interests in Tacoma and Ruston.
PIERCE COUNTY COUNCIL DISTRICT 6
DICK MURI – REPUBLICAN
WV: What are the most important issues facing your district, and how will you address them as a member of the Pierce County Council?
MURI: The crime rate has been dropping these past ten years, but it is still to high. We need to have a more efficient criminal justice system, primarily focused on the courts and the jail. We have been conducting performance audits in these areas to make these areas more effective and efficient.
WV: What makes you qualified to serve on the Pierce County Council? What has prepared you for this job, and how will you use that preparation to serve Pierce County residents? What skills, qualities and experiences do you posses that your opponents don’t? Why are you the voter’s best choice? If you’re already seated on the council and running for reelection, what have you learned on your time on the council thus far? How has it helped you?
MURI: I have learned that Pierce County government operations are very diverse and with 3,500 employees and an 850 million dollar per year budget, we have a large impact on public resources. One pleasant surprise was the amount of volunteers and citizens committees we have, 54 committees in total, that have a large input into how the county operates and spends it's resources. My 22 years as an officer in the United States Air Force has prepared me well to represent district six, a district that includes McChord AFB and Fort Lewis. My degree in public health has made me a more effective vice chairman if the Tacoma Pierce County Health Board.
WV:When did you decide to run for the Pierce County council? What catalysts led to your decision?
MURI: When the position came open in 2003, I had numerous constituents encourage me to run for election and become their county council district representative. I was on the Steilacoom Historical School District Board of Directors at the time.
WV: What is your vision for Pierce County, and how do you plan to get us there? What things need to happen to make that possible?
MURI: A continuous customer focus improvement model, through performance audits, that serves the citizens well, with efforts to find efficiencies in how we deliver those services.
WV: How will you address the economic issues facing Pierce County? What needs to happen for Pierce County’s economy to prosper? How far off are we? What’s standing in the way, and what will you do to change it?
MURI: Pierce County is prosperous, as measured by many indicators. We do need to build and finish Highway 167 to bring more high paying jobs to the area. Protecting our environment is critical if we are to attract retirees and families to our beautiful area.
WV: What needs to happen to create Pierce County jobs?
MURI: A business climate that welcomes new businesses and a well trained and ready work force.
WV: What needs to happen to address transportation issues in Pierce County, and find ways to ease congestion?
MURI: This is mainly a state and federal requirement, except for the major arterials in unincorporated Pierce County. With the newly created developer impact fees, we have funds to continue to increase some of our major arterials from 3 lanes to 5 lanes.
WV: What needs to happen to address the deficiencies in Pierce County’s criminal justice system? Please outline the deficiencies you see.
MURI: We need a court system that meets criminal justice timelines. Our newly remodeled and improved criminal division court rooms should help speed up the process and I look for the felony case back log (about 1,900 cases, should be only 1,100 cases) to improve in 2009.
WV: What needs to happen to address sprawl in Pierce County? Do you see it as a problem?
MURI: Past zoning allowed for more development in unincorporated county and those property owners are vested by state law. We need to find incentives for more citizens to build homes and live in our existing cities as required by the state growth management act
WV: What’s your take on the balance between taxes with meeting the needs of your constituents? Currently, how do you believe Pierce County is doing with that balance? Are there changes that need to be made? Where is there room for improvement? Are there specific spending cuts you’d like to see made? Are there specific taxes you’d like to see raises?
MURI: Taxes, especially property taxes need to continue to decline. Our county property tax rates has decreased by 40% the past seven years and in inflation adjusted dollars declined by 22%. When we can, we should focus on a fee for service model of county government instead of relying on taxes.
WV: What are voters in your district looking for from their Pierce County Council representative, and how do you plan on delivering it?
MURI: They are looking for an accessible, inclusive representative with good communication skills, a frugal mind set, who has the skills to look for waste in the system.
WV: How will you balance the interests of your district with what’s best for Pierce County as a whole? Will there be any obstacles in doing that? Do you feel what’s best for your district is what’s best for Pierce County, or are there situations that will be different?
MURI: Always a tough thing to do, but I always vote and make decisions based on the "greater good". So far in my five years on the council, there has been a sense of congeniality between the seven council members and their specific area districts. I look for that to continue for the next four years.
VINCENT D. STEWART – DEMOCRAT
STEWART: Let me open by saying that the statements below are what I think we should do, but I have six other people on the Council that I have to convince.
WV: What are the most important issues facing your district, and how will you address them as a member of the Pierce County Council?
STEWART: Transportation, growth, jobs.
Solving each of these will help all of these. First, if we can fix our transportation issues adding more option to get around that will help with attracting new business to the area, which in turn provides more jobs. This broadens the tax base, which gives government more money to do more services and we didn't have to raise taxes.
WV: When did you decide to run for the Pierce County Council? What catalysts led to your decision?
STEWART: I decided to run earlier this year. Mostly because of three issues. The shortage of Deputies, both on the street and in the County jail. Lack of Ethics rules and land use (urban sprawl). I don't want us to be Los Angles County. There are other issues that I have a problem with, like long term contracts with trash companies. No bid contracts with towing companies. Spending 5 million on another airport and golf course. Yet, we can't care for our homeless youth. Pay for and train additional deputies. Build bicycle lanes that are safe for the public. Make sure county residents are not being run out of their homes by developers. There is a lot of issues that need to be resolved.
WV: What is your vision for Pierce County, and how do you plan to get there? What things need to happen to make that possible?
STEWART: I see the possibility of having a County where everyone can live, work and play without ever leaving Pierce County. We need to have growth plans that we follow. Use alternative power at all County owned building to cut cost and be earth friendly. Encourage farming in the County so that it has the capacity to feed everyone in the County. Have other business that can not be moved to out of the area, so that everyone can have employment. We need to have a transportation system that give you the option of not having to use a car for your daily travels. We should have enough housing that no one has to live on the street.
Yes, some of the ideas will take money, but alot of it just takes having some common sense rules and doing what's right and not what makes the most money for a few people.
WV: What needs to happen to address transportation issues in Pierce County, and finding ways to ease congestion?
STEWART: First, a serious talk with WSDOT to have priorities made and followed to get projects like SR 167 finished in a timely matter. SR 167 has been planned for 40 years from the Port of Tacoma to SR 18. It still hasn't happen. The same thing need to be done with Sound Transit. Stop treating Pierce County as an after thought.
Next, the Cities, County and State need to come together in an equal partnership to build a mass transit system. We need to build light rail that goes from DuPont to Fife and Tacoma to Eatonville. Bus service to the rail line, bike lanes and trails as well. We should have housing near where people work.
I realize that I haven't answered all the questions, but I think I answered the really important ones and gave voters a sense of what I would like see happen in our County.