After swearing in its new members, the Bonney Lake City Council started a Jan. 5 workshop by electing a deputy mayor and discussing the Washington State University Demonstration Forest development agreement.
Judge Jim Helbling administered the oath of office to newly-elected councilmembers Randy McKibbin and Donn Lewis, along with veteran councilman Dan Swatman and Mayor Neil Johnson.
McKibbin was elected in November to serve the Council At-Large Position 1 seat, while Lewis will represent Ward 4. Swatman, who was previously the Council At-Large Position 1, was elected to the Ward 1 seat which was held by Dave King. King didn’t seek re-election.
After a 15-minute break for refreshments and photos, the first order of business was electing deputy mayor. The council unanimously voted Swatman to serve as deputy mayor for another term.
Swatman appointed Councilman James Rackley, Lewis and McKibbin to the Community Development Committee. Councilman Mark Hamilton, Councilwoman Laurie Carter and Councilman Dan Decker will make up the Public Safety Committee.
During open discussion, Johnson said he wants to bring YMCA President Bob Ecklund to a council workshop since all parties signed off on the development agreement for the Washington State University Demonstration Forest last month.
YMCA officials said they plan to open a Bonney Lake facility in 2018.
“The desire is to get them (YMCA) moved up from 2018 to 2013, or even sooner,” Johnson said.
The development agreement gives 47 acres of the 150-acre property to the city for public use, while 65 acres is for residential and 35 acres of retail offices.
The property has been closed since 2006 and the city will temporarily re-open the forest for biking, walking and other activities.
Carter asked if the city has plans to clean up the WSU Forest before opening the land to the public.
She said the city could assign different community groups to help clean up the land since the agreement states the property needs to be cleaned up at least once a month. Carter also suggested the city could get signs up to mark the trails for the public, start coordinating events to bring attention to the forest, get schools involved with having fun runs, dog walks, cross county meets, bird watching and nature classes.
“We need to work with the YMCA and get the fundraising started,” Carter added. “There are a lot of different things we can do for the fundraising. I’d like for us to get started on that as soon as possible.”
Carter also said she wants the forest to be safe for police to patrol.
“Is there a place for them to ride their bikes or walk safely to patrol?” she asked.
Police Chief Mike Mitchell said “there needs to be a lot of clean up.” He said that fallen trees and limbs obstruct the trails.
Lewis said that Beautify Bonney Lake and some of the schools may be interested in assisting with cleaning up the forest on Saturday.
Community Development Director John Vodopich said contractors for the medical center on the WSU property submitted their stormwater plans on Dec. 30.
Swatman asked Vodopich when site plans for the medical center become available to forward them to the council.
