Mukilteo Beacon - Your Hometown News Source

Welcome to a new year and a new City Council. It feels great being back on the City Council and also as Council President. The Council this year has a great opportunity to do some good things. I have been impressed with the knowledge, experience, and professionalism in the short time I have been working with my fellow councilmembers. We are committed to make our community better.

Due to the fast-spreading omicron variant of COVID-19, we have decided to go back to only virtual City Council meetings. Council Vice President Elisabeth Crawford, who acts as our Snohomish Health District representative, has been in close communication with leadership of the SHD. They have recommended that we go to virtual meetings for the foreseeable future. The Council and the mayor will reassess the situation every few weeks.

Not only do I look forward to working with Mayor Joe Marine and his administration on his agenda but also working on our Council agenda as well. We have already started to put together our Council agenda. I look forward to giving a progress report throughout the year.

One of the first orders of business is to fill the Council vacancy, which was as a result of Joe Marine's mayoral victory. There are eight candidates that applied to fill the seat. It will be a thorough and informative process in filling that vacancy.

As I mentioned, the Council is working on its agenda. One of the items put forward by Councilmember Richard Emery is to create ADA access at the trailhead at the south end of Japanese Gulch near the Community Garden. I think this is a terrific idea. Another item that also is getting support is putting together a plan to do trail maintenance in both Big Gulch and Japanese Gulch. There has been some significant erosion that is affecting some trails and it needs some attention. Both gulches are very popular with our residents and visitors to Mukilteo.

I want to take a moment and thank our Public Works staff, which worked day and night on plowing our roads during the snowstorm during the holidays. There was quite a bit of snow and they did a great job. Public Works also worked on draining a large amount of standing water that was flooding parts of the parking lot at Lighthouse Park. They had to clean out debris and fix the tide gate (which helps reduce water from entering the stormwater pipes during high tides).

I want to thank The Mukilteo Beacon for giving me the opportunity to give periodic updates of the workings of the Mukilteo City Council. If you have any questions or concerns you can email at [email protected]. The Council and the Mayor can be reached at [email protected]. Be well and be safe.