Correction: The Courier-Herald misreported that Connie Bender, running for Buckley City Council, was an incumbent. Bender used to be on the council, but lost her election to Mackenzie Anderson in 2021.

Buckley City Council candidates sat down last week to talk with citizens about the ideas they have for the city that they love.

In stark contrast to the national stage, the event — hosted by the Buckley Chamber of Commerce at Five2Five on Oct. 9 — was a a calm, collaborative affair, with incumbents and challengers answering questions about how they think the council can help downtown business thrive, improve traffic, and address firework complaints, among other issues.

Attending the event was Council member Lyn Rose and challenger Denice Bergerson; Connie Bender and Maureen Sundstrom, who are looking to replace Council member Mackenzie Anderson; and Council member Brandon Green attended, though he is running unopposed.

Though a wide range of questions were asked, most candidates ended up agreeing with each other on many issues — a refreshing change of pace, perhaps, from polarized politics, but this could also leave Buckley voters without without a strong sense of who to support beyond deciding between incumbents that have a few years of experience under their belts or newcomers that will have to learn as they go.

Occasionally standing out from the group, though, was Bender, who at times had a differing opinion from the rest of the group and who appeared comfortable voicing it.

In contrast, challengers Bergerson and Sundstrom were unable to provide a position on a few issues, instead saying that they’d have to do some additional research on various issues before giving an answer; this gave incumbents Rose and former Council member Bender opportunities to showcase their institutional knowledge at various times.

Here are some of the night’s questions and the answers that candidates provided to help you decide who to vote for; make sure you check your mailbox between Oct. 20 and 24 for your local ballot.

The election is Nov. 7.

SHOULD BUCKLEY REMODEL CITY HALL, OR BUILD A NEW STRUCTURE?

Buckley’s city hall is an aging building, and the city council has been examining whether to remodel the structure as a short-term fix, or invest in something new that can come with some room to grow.

However, the city is also facing a budget deficit, so the council opted last August to not move forward with paying a contractor to design an alternative modernization project to the one approved earlier in the year.

This was a close vote, though — 4 to 3 — and despite Rose saying she appreciated the council having “the common sense” to hold off on spending additional money on this project at the recent forum, she was one of the minority “yes” votes.

The other folks on the stage agreed that the city does not have the funds right now to consider either project.

“If the money isn’t there, you shouldn’t spend it,” Sundstrom said.

HOW WILL YOU FIX THE BUDGET DEFICIT?

The City Council has been researching ways to head off a forecasted 2024 budget deficit, estimated to be between $455,000 to nearly $700,000.

Recent solutions presented by city staff include implementing a business and occupation tax, bringing the emergency services levy up to its 50 cent maximum, increase business and license fees, and increase the city’s property tax.

However, most council members were adamant against implementing any new taxes or levies, with the exception of raising the EMS levy, and generally supported better partnership with local businesses.

Bender was the one of the few people to offer a specific solution to how the city can bring in additional tax revenue that could help balance the budget, beyond the suggestions of using dwindling ARPA (American Rescue Plan) dollars or doing better to partner with the local business community.

According to Bender, there are “so many” businesses on state Route 410 that don’t provide the city with sales tax revenue, and the city council should either rezone, or change up zoning requirements, to encourage or require new business going into that area to produce sales tax revenue.

“That whole strip out there… it’s getting eaten up by nothing that is really bringing in any money to the city,” she said.

Bergerson later added that she would like to research a sales tax increase, but ultimately, would need to do more research into the issue before coming up with additional ideas.

HOW CAN YOU REVITALIZE DOWNTOWN?

Like the previous question, many council candidates said that elected officials could stand to do more to partner with local businesses, either by making it easier for business to open and operate or by providing resources to host larger events to bring locals and tourists to Main Street.

It “has to be a joint effort,” Green said.

Bender again found an opportunity to go into additional detail about her opinions.

First, she suggested better signage on 410.

“You got real small signs that by the time you see them, you’re already past [them],” Bender said.

But she also suggested that the council needs to broaden its horizon and consider how to bring customers and tourists to other parts of downtown, including the businesses across the highway.

“We’ve almost made Main Street… the only part of town we have,” Bender continued.

HOW WILL YOU ADDRESS TRAFFIC ISSUES/DO YOU SUGGEST ROUNDABOUTS?

Perhaps one of the most talked-about issues on the Plaetau as a whole is traffic, especially on SR 410 going from Enumclaw into Buckley — though the latter also has its fair share of congestion.

Problem is, SR 410 is, as the name suggests, a state highway, which means whatever plans city officials might have will need to ultimately be reviewed and signed off by WSDOT — and the department has made it clear it considered replacing several of Buckley’s stop lights with roundabouts at a long-term solution.

Affected intersections could include Park Avenue, Main Street, Mundy Loss Road, Hinkleman Extension, and State Route 165

Such a project could take decade or more to complete, City Administrator Courtney Brunell said last January, which is why the city updated its Transportation Improvement Plan last July to be eligible for a grant to fund a predesign.

Roundabouts remain controversial on the Plateau, though studies consistently show they reduce traffic delays and vehicle collisions, at least on average.

Sundstrom went all-in on roundabouts, saying they are “pretty effective” and “keeps things going in areas when you’ve got a combination of commercial vehicles and residential cars.”

Her opponent, however, wasted no time in saying that she “hates” the concept, and not just for traffic reasons — Bender believes that installing roundabouts would kill business on both sides of the highway. Instead, she think re-syncing the lights, like what WSDOT did back in late 2018/early 2019, is the ideal solution.

Both Green and Bergerson said they’d be willing to try anything that would help traffic on the highway, with Bergerson adding that she trusts the experts at WSDOT.

WHAT’S YOUR OPINION ON AFFORDABLE HOUSING?

In general, both incumbents and their challengers agree that affordable housing is absolutely necessary — though the question that kept coming up was, “what does affordable housing mean?”

But like highway construction, Buckley’s elected officials have little control over its affordable housing goals, since that’s set by the state, according to Green.

“A lot of this is driven by state mandates now,” he said, though which he might have been referring to was not clear.

Both Green and Rose agreed that if the Buckley residents want to give more control to their city in terms of affordable housing, the pushback needs to be at the state level.

Sundstrom added that, as an attorney, she hopes to pick apart state requirements to determine what the state actually requires in terms of affordable housing for the city in order to “get the best results for Buckley.”