Voters meet county, Sultan candidates

Editor's Note: Look for more Sultan candidate coverage in the coming weeks.

The League of Women Voters, the Sultan Library and the Sky Valley Chamber of Commerce came together last week to host a forum to introduce candidates running for election in Sultan and Snohomish County.

The event took place at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 1, at Sultan High School.

In addition to the Sultan mayor position, three Sultan City Council seats will be on November's ballot. Sultan Mayor Carolyn Eslick, currently serving her second term, is facing challenger Ray George. George's wife, Kay George, is running for Sultan City Council Position No. 7 against incumbent Jeffrey Beeler. Russell Wiita, 21, is seeking to fill Position No. 4 on the Sultan City Council, with incumbent Sarah Davenport-Smith not seeking reelection. Wiita's challenger is 75-year-old Bart Dalmasso.

Long-time Sultan resident and business owner Al Wirta will attempt to unseat incumbent Joe Neigel, who is seeking reelection to Position No. 5. Wirta was unable to attend the forum due to work commitments, but the League of Women Voters allowed Ray George to read Wirta's statement.

Kay and Ray George, Wirta and Dalmasso have a long-standing alliance, and have built a group website called "Vote Smart Sultan.GÇ¥ The group claims it can cut garbage rates in half by privatizing the city's garbage service. Vote Smart candidates are affiliated with the Utility Stakeholders' Group, which is suing the city of Sultan for what it alleges to be misappropriation of funds.

Members of the group claim the city illegally used funds from its garbage, water and sewer funds to pay for the day-to-day operations of the city outside of utilities.

Snohomish County Executive John Lovick and his challenger, County Council Chairman Dave Somers, were unable to attend the event, so the forum opened with the Snohomish County Assessor candidates.

Snohomish County Assessor

The Snohomish County Assessor's Office assesses all taxable real and personal property in the county, calculating levy rates and maintaining the county's official parcel maps. The assessor's office assesses nearly 300,000 properties every year in Snohomish County. The office has 62 employees, about half being accredited appraisers.-á

Snohomish County Assessor Cindy Portmann is unable to seek reelection due to term limits. As the assessor, Portmann's days are filled with high-level meetings related to department oversight and countywide issues. In addition, the assessor works with the Washington State Association of County Officials and the Washington State Association of County Assessors on legislative issues that affect county offices across the state.

Portmann's 12-year chief deputy, Linda Hjelle, is seeking the position. Hjelle said she's worked in the assessor's office for more than 26 years, starting in an entry level clerical position. As chief deputy, she's been responsible for writing and managing the office's $7 million budget for the last 12 years.

"I really like what I do. I enjoy the people that I work with; they do a great job,GÇ¥ Hjelle said. "The people within the office are professionals in setting values that are fair and equitable.GÇ¥

Opponent Marty Glaser, is a 30-year residential real estate appraiser. He said he would be a "hands-onGÇ¥ assessor, and he sees himself out in the field with the appraisers, engaging in "ride-alongs.GÇ¥

"I believe that the assessor's position is a position that requires a background in real estate appraisal,GÇ¥ Glaser said. "I think that my opponent has had plenty of years working in a government office and she may be well-versed in the segregation department or the parcel search department or the customer service department, but she's never appraised property.GÇ¥

Hjelle defended her credentials, stating she's been trained in mass appraisal by both the revenue department and the International Association of Assessing Officers. She said mass appraisal is different than fee appraisal, which is also referred to as individual appraisal.

"Mass appraisal is valuing groups of properties, not individual pieces of property,GÇ¥ Hjelle said. "We are looking at groups of properties, we are setting benchmarks and we are looking at the statistics that show that we are doing a good job.GÇ¥

Sultan City Council

Each Sultan City Council candidate was given the opportunity to give a two-minute opening statement. During Kay George's opening remarks, she identified public safety, the expansion of city government and high utility fees as the three major issues dominating her campaign. Kay served on the Sultan City Council for two years before losing her bid for reelection in 2013 to Rocky Walker.-á -á

"High utility fees are a big issue for every family and every household here in Sultan, and they need to be addressed,GÇ¥ Kay George said. "The city has cut garbage fees 10 percent, but unfortunately they cut the service 50, and that's not a good value.GÇ¥

Councilmember Jeffrey Beeler has lived in Sultan for 15 years an owned and operated his own business for 27 years. He first became involved in city government when serving on city's budget advisory panel in 2007, and then joined a committee in 2008 when the city was establishing a stormwater utility to work on lowering proposed fees.

He was appointed to the Sultan City Council in 2009 and elected to the seat in 2011.

Russell Wiita said he would focus on public safety, government transparency and economic growth, if elected. The 21-year-old Sultan native expects to graduate from the University of Washington with a bachelor's degree in political science this December. Wiita served in student government while at Sultan High School and was appointed student representative of the Sultan City Council during his junior year. He served on the University of Washington student senate, and spent time lobbying in Olympia on behalf of students.

Wiita has a long history of working with the city as a volunteer and as the Sultan City Council student representative.

He raised funds by himself to bring the Rachel's Challenge anti-bullying campaign to the high school and helped lobby for a $500,000 grant to build the new Sultan Boys & Girls Club.-á -á

"I was student representative on the city council when I was in high school, so I've actually been on the council, participated in discussions and have seen how things happen,GÇ¥ Wiita said. "I've not tried to dis-incorporate our city and I have not sued the city and cost taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars. I've got positive experience working in the community and with the city that I can bring to the council.GÇ¥

Wiita was referring to an attempt made by challenger Bart Dalmasso and others to disincorporate the city in 2010. Dalmasso acknowledges the effort, which he says was a way to lower the cost of living in Sultan.

"When we found out that the people in Sultan didn't want that, we immediately dropped that campaign,GÇ¥ Dalmasso said.

Dalmasso is a lifelong Washingtonian who has lived in the Sky Valley since the early 1980s. The 75-year-old real estate broker ran as a write-in candidate during the 2013 election, losing to Marianne Naslund. If elected, he said his primary goal would be to lower the cost of living in the city of Sultan.-á -á

Councilmember Joe Neigel has served on the Sultan City Council since 2010. The married father-of-five is a long-time prevention specialist, who has worked to reduce the negative effects of drug and alcohol use among youth in Snohomish County. He works for the Monroe School District and heads up the Monroe Community Coalition.

"I'm here to tell you something different than you may be hearing as the election ramps up,GÇ¥ Neigel said. "Sultan is blessed with a highly functional, highly respectful and transparent city government.GÇ¥

Sultan City Council candidates were asked a variety of questions related to economic development, potential staff cuts at city hall and public safety. There was consensus among candidates that the Snohomish County Sheriff's Office is doing a good job and the shortfall in crime prevention is due to the lack of a designated city prosecutor.

The city is exploring obtaining its own prosecutor, after city staff made the proposal to the Sultan City Council earlier this year.

All candidates were highly supportive of the city's $5,000 contribution to help the Sultan School District retain its school resource officer.

Beeler raised concerns over his opponent's unwillingness to turn over emails from when she served on the council. He said her refusal has placed the city in a precarious position due to public records laws. He also alleged that Kay George and Councilmember Bob McCarty approached him earlier this summer and asked him outright to vote in favor of privatizing garbage.

"Mrs. George and Mr. McCarty, who sits on council now, came out to me and said, "If you agree with us and vote with us, we won't run somebody against you.' I told her no,GÇ¥ Beeler said.

Neigel disputed the Stakeholders' Group allegation that they could cut garbage rates in half by privatizing the service.

"There's been some conversation about halving garbage rates, and I can assure you that that is not possible,GÇ¥ Neigel said. "The city of Snohomish is in year one of a four-year contract with Waste Management, and they pay $5 more than we do for garbage and recycling. This is a pipe dream.GÇ¥

Sultan mayor

Mayor Carolyn Eslick was first elected mayor in 2007, after six years on the Sultan City Council. She was reelected in 2011.

Eslick said much has changed in the city of Sultan since she's been mayor. When she first took office, the corner of Fourth and Main Street was notorious for loitering youth, while 30 to 40 individuals lived in a homeless encampment on the south side of U.S. 2. She said she has worked proactively to improve public safety by partnering with law enforcement.

Shortly after she took office, the city became a Snohomish County Sheriff's Office contract city, phasing out its city police department. Eslick holds weekly meetings with the chief of police, and said she has worked to establish a good relationship with the sheriff's office.

Sultan's volunteer program is flourishing, Eslick said, with the city accumulating labor valued at hundreds of thousands of dollars. In 2013, volunteers working for the city accumulated 9,187 hours, topping out at 14,450 hours in 2014. Volunteers put in 6,875 hours in the first half of 2015.

"We would not be in the great spot that we are in today without those volunteers,GÇ¥ Eslick said. "We have got the best community in the world in my opinion, and I love to be the mayor for the city of Sultan.GÇ¥

Ray George purchased a home in Sultan in 1996, and moved to the area with his wife in 2000. He has taken an active interest in city government, and prioritizes attending Sultan City Council meetings every week. George has an engineering background and has worked as a project manager. He has concerns over the way money is spent at city hall, and has spoken out against what he feels is wasteful spending.-á

"I decided to run for this office because I've watched, for many years, some very poor decisions made on spending, and I think that needs to be corrected,GÇ¥ George said. "I think you deserve your money to be more wisely spent.GÇ¥

George wants to stimulate economic development by streamlining services at city hall and making operating a business in Sultan less cost prohibitive. He said he knows of businesses that have wanted to come to Sultan, only to be stymied by high costs.

"We have a bad reputation in that area, and I think that needs to change,GÇ¥ George said.

He said he is greatly concerned about the proposed pedestrian bridge, which was designed using grant funding. The problem, George said, is the city will have to pay back the design grant if the city doesn't find construction funding.

"I think we have a real issue there. We're either going to have to pay that grant money back or find some construction money somewhere,GÇ¥ George said. "There is no funding source that is secured right now. That's a problem that has to be solved.GÇ¥

Sultan High School technology specialist Dave Moon broadcasted the candidate forum on TurkPride TV. To watch the broadcast in its entirety, visit www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMTKLKCyltg&sns=fb.