Thomas poised for another term as Monroe mayor

Incumbent Geoffrey Thomas is well ahead of Monroe City Councilmember Jim Kamp in the first wave of tallied ballots for mayor that dropped Tuesday night.

As of Tuesday, Thomas had more than 66 percent of the 1,114 votes cast. Kamp had nearly 33.5 percent, and less than 1 percent were write-ins.

A group of Thomas' family, friends and supporters gathered at El Lago Mexican Restaurant on Fryelands Boulevard to wait for the results. He said a few words once the initial counts were posted, hands were shaken and applause and cheers filled the room.

Thomas first thanked his wife Lara, who he said was his rock throughout the race, and their two sons for the hours pounding pavement each spent during the campaign. He also thanked the voters for their confidence in the work being done at Monroe City Hall.

Lara said she was excited for her husband to continue to advance the community's vision. She said in the past four years the city has seen great improvement to parks, roadways and business growth.

During his first race, Lara said they didn't know what to expect. Thomas had knocked on nearly every door within city limits that time around, she said. Thomas said he had been to around 1,500 households since this spring.

Thomas and Kamp spent much of their campaign knocking on doors. Each touted the importance of economic development, growth and fiscal responsibility from the start.

During the race, Kamp advocated for a revised vision for the city. He said a dedicated economic development director and more robust planning group than the recently approved Economic Development Advisory Board is needed to move Monroe forward.

Kamp's background is in database administration and project management. He was a project manager at Boeing in Everett, and has lived in Western Washington his entire life. He moved his family to Monroe in 1996. After arriving, he volunteered with the Monroe School District and at his church.

Kamp was first elected to the council in 2011. He won by the closest margin in Monroe’s history — two votes took the election. Before filling the council seat, he was on the city’s planning commission.

Thomas spent six years on the council before winning the mayor’s seat in 2013. He obtained a degree in planning at the University of California-Davis, where he met his wife, in 1992. The couple moved to Monroe nearly two decades ago.

Thomas has worked in the public and private sector. For the past nine years he has been employed as a senior legislative analyst for the Snohomish County Council. He has worked as a firefighter, was the planning commissioner in Olympia, acted as volunteer church leader, coached, and has experience in the private sector.

Public safety, transportation, such as pushing for State Route 522 funds, and homelessness are some issues Thomas has tackled while in office so far. Thomas plans to bring more businesses into town, and to support the manufacturing and industrial park. He wants to see more growth along U.S. Highway 2, and create a destination for recreation and retail.

He has also said he wants to see Monroe residents working in town and that more employment opportunities must be made available.

“I look forward to continuing to roll my sleeves up and work for the people in our community,” he said.