After three decades serving in public office, Buckley Mayor Pat Johnson adjourned her last city council meeting Tuesday Dec. 14, beginning the final page of the longest mayoral term in the city’s history.

The council commemorated Johnson’s tenure at the end of the meeting, which saw the outgoing mayor swear in mayor-elect Beau Burkett. (Burkett, like Johnson, is also a former Buckley City Council member.)

Johnson spent 14 years as a city council member and 16 more as the city’s mayor, overseeing the city through the 2008 Great Recession, four U.S. presidents, and the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. She holds the office until the strike of midnight on Dec. 31, but Johnson won’t be seeking any fairytale spell to restore her to public office. She plans to retire to spend more time on Crystal Mountain and traveling with her husband.

“It’s the last thing I do before I walk out the door,” Johnson said during the council meeting of the swearing-in ceremony for her successor, wryly adding: “And I want all the doors locked, so Beau can’t leave.”

In bidding adieu to the city, Johnson thanked the volunteers across the city’s fire department, senior center, food bank, churches and many other organizations. Then, councilmember Ron Smith presented Johnson with a plaque commemorating her years of service.

“You could hear the emotion in her voice about this community, and who contributes to this community,” Smith said. “It’s incredible that someone could give 30 years of their life, all the while previously having another career.”

Johnson’s last action as Mayor was to facilitate the oath of office for Burkett, who will serve as the city’s mayor for the next four years.

The Dec. 14 meeting, which will be the city council’s last this year, was a night of many goodbyes and hellos.

It was also the last meeting for council members Connie Bender and Luke Wilbanks, whose terms also end this year. Bender’s spot will be taken by White River School District teacher Mackenzie A. Breeden, while Wilbanks’ seat will be taken by Fenix Earthworks superintendent Kenneth Arsanto.

(Councilmembers Ron Smith and Brandon Green won their campaigns to retain their seats, and the other three council seats weren’t up for election this year.)

“It’s been an honor and a privilege to serve the citizens of Buckley,” Bender said. “I’d like to give my congratulations to Mackenzie Breeden. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.”

“I look forward to being part of the city in a different role now,” Wilbanks said, citing his newly-opened coffee shop ‘Anchor House Coffee Roasters’ across A Street. “Two doors down, come on down, and I’ll make you a cup of coffee.”

Finally, the city council voted 6-to-1 to officially rehire former City Administrator Dave Schmidt, filling the role abruptly vacated by Paul Weed last month.

WRAPPING UP CITY BUSINESS

The council attended to more mundane matters as well during their Dec. 14 meeting, including unanimously adopting the final adjustment to the 2021 city budget. That’s unrelated to the 2022 final budget, which the council passed at their previous meeting. (A detailed breakdown of the city’s 2022 budget will be included in a future article.)

Rather, Buckley Finance Director Sandi Hines said, the amendment passed Dec. 14 was mostly “housekeeping.” Among other changes, it moved $30,000 from the General Fund to the Street Operating Fund to pay for increased costs and decreased tax revenue. The amendment also boosted the Arterial Street Fund by $100,000 thanks to revenue from a right-of-way settlement from Pierce County for future road improvements.

Councilmembers also unanimously rejected two bids for the the city’s upcoming Multi-Use Sports Court, since both contractors came in more than $100,000 over the initial $140,000 engineer’s estimate. Staff will tweak the design and re-advertise the project in 2022, according to the bid rejection memo.

“This project was very popular in the community,” Smith said. “The City went out and asked for people to buy bricks (to raise money for the project), and that is in escrow right now. This cannot be dropped. I fully understand why we’re rejecting this … so please, do not let this fall off the radar.”

The council also re-approved an agreement with King County Parks for the project constructing the Foothills Trail bridge over the White River from Enumclaw to Buckley. Councilmember Marvin Sundstrom proposed a motion to clarify some of the language referring to King County in the bill, but it failed when no other council members signed on. The City Attorney pointed out that any amendments to the agreement would have to go through all the other parties involved as well, which could delay the process. All council members except for Sundstrom then voted to approve the agreement as written.

Next, the council voted unanimously to renew their longstanding contract to provide police services for the Town of Carbonado, and unanimously gave final acceptance for the city’s 2020 consolidated utilities project by Rodarte Construction. Rodarte performed utility upgrades and road restoration around town at a total cost of about $1,870,000 dollars.

Johnson then presented the city’s proposed contract to re-hire City Administrator Dave Schmidt.

“Come on guys, somebody say no,” Schmidt said genially, to warm laughter from the audience.

That request was fulfilled earnestly by Sundstrom, who criticized the “excesses” of the contract and motioned to take a red pen to many of the terms offered to Schmidt.

“I’ve always been under the impression that a contract provides something to both parties,” he said, adding: “This contract makes the city appear desperate.”

Sundstrom proposed, among other changes, limiting Schmidt’s contract to a maximum of six months and cutting his travel allowance from $1,155 to $500 per month. Sundstrom’s motion failed, however, since no other councilmembers signed on to his effort.

All councilmembers except for Sundstrom then voted to approve the contract as written, which brings Schmidt back on for six months at the top step of the salary scale, where he was prior to retiring. It also provides up to a total of six more months of extension time if the city needs it to find his successor.

The council’s last action, before the passing of the mayoral torch, was to vote on a proposal by Mayor Johnson to nix the second council meeting of December. All councilmembers, except for Sundstrom, agreed to make Tuesday’s meeting the last of the year.

That wraps up the City Council’s business for 2021. Here’s a look back at the council’s other actions taken over the last three meetings this year, each of which saw presentations from the city finance department on the 2022 budget.

On Oct. 26, the city council heard from the Buckley Fire Department, which proudly reported that they didn’t have to respond to any fireworks-related calls in their jurisdiction this year despite the unseasonably warm summer. That meeting, the council also unanimously passed a resolution supporting the supporting the Rails-to-Trails Coalition’s Dr. Tait Memorial Plaza, a proposed public pavilion which would be named after Buckley’s well-known town doctor Douglas Tait.

On Nov. 9, the council swore in Erich Huntley as Buckley PD’s newest police officer. They also gave final plat approval on the 31-lot Emmons Glen subdivision (formerly known as the Jaegar Estates and Division St. subdivision). Then, on Nov. 23, they gave final plat approval on the 70-lot Prairie Creek Farms subdivision (formerly known as the Maracu subdivision).

City council members at the Nov. 23 meeting adopted the final 2022 budget and city employee salary scale, certifications for the EMS and property tax levies, the city’s stormwater management action plan and the voter-approved fire station levy.

Councilmember Ron Smith embraces outgoing Mayor Pat Johnson after presenting her with a plaque commemorating her decades of public service in Buckley. Photo by Alex Bruell