Mayor Jan Molinaro gave his fifth Sate of Enumclaw address last week, listing the city’s accomplishments and what projects residents can look forward to in the coming year.

The speech, given in-person on April 11 at City Hall, can be watched online at cityofenumclaw.net/CivicMedia?VID=373.

Molinaro himself had to pick and choose which items to publicly praise, and the Courier-Herald doesn’t have space to recount his whole 40 minute speech, so make sure to head online for a fuller list of Enumclaw’s successes.

Last year, the Mayor predicted 2023 to be difficult for the city, citing inflation worried and decreasing revenues.

“As Enumclaw continues moving through 2022 and look toward 2023, I expect to encounter some headwinds for the city and its budget,” he said last year.

This year, he made no such conjecture.

“I’m not going to make any predictions, because last year I really thought it was going to be worse than it ended up being,” he said. Though he personally expects unspecified “unforeseen headwinds”, he also added that the “city is in a strong position” financially to withstand any unfortunate weather.

ADMINISTRATION

Molinaro lauded his administration’s accomplishments first.

Maybe one of the most visible accomplishments admin achieved, with the help of the city council and local volunteers, was the creation of a first responder monument, which lights up outside city hall in red, white, and blue to represent firefighters, EMS, and police.

The monument was revealed on Sept. 20, 2022.

Also visible, but far less fancy, is the creation of a new parking lot as a partnership between the city and the Thunder Dome Car Museum. The lot isn’t open yet, but should be later in the spring.

There were other, more backroom accomplishments, like the city being designated a “Well City” for the 12th time in a row. The award is to recognize cities that “achieve quality standards in employee health promotion”, according to the Association of Washington Cities website, and saved the city around $28,000 in insurance premiums.

Additionally, the city gave $60,000 to the Enumclaw School District/Rainer Foothills Wellness Foundation to support mental health counseling in schools, and $75,000 to Plateau Outreach Ministries to support its food bank, utility voucher, and rent voucher programs.

Finally, the city has begun serious discussions toward developing a new community center on Cole Street — a conversation topic that’s spanned at least three decades in some form. Though plans are not yet complete, and construction a long ways away, it’s hoped that the community center will house the Senior Center, Arts Alive!, and Enumclaw’s Parks and Rec department, along with a full-sized gym and a large commons area.

INFORMATION SERVICES

Operating behind the scenes is Enumclaw’s Information Services team, which helps keep the city up-to-date with modern tech that keeps the gears well-oiled.

One major accomplishment was installing body cameras of Enumclaw police officers; the program went live Nov. 1, 2022.

Among their other achievements were installing a card entry and panic alarm system at the local Senior Center, upgrading ECTV, which streams city council meetings, Enumclaw School District Board meetings, and other city events, and continued to improve the city’s ability to digitally track water, sewer, stormwater, transportation, and solid waste resources, rather than having to write everything down, Molinaro said.

ENUMCLAW POLICE

The Enumclaw Police Department received high marks on two audits last year. One was the LEMAP by WA Association of Police Chiefs (spelled out, the Loaned Executive Management Assistance Program evaluates police department’s organizational structures, and “overall, our police department did very well in this assessment,” Molinaro said) and Prison Rape Elimination Act audit.

The local jail also added a dedicated bed for the Buckley police department, and dispatch services were increased at Mt. Rainier National Park.

Finally, Molinaro recounted that Police Chief Tim Floyd graduated from the FBI Training Academy and brought that experience back to his officers.

PARKS AND REC

As usual, Enumclaw’s Parks and Rec department has been bursting with activity.

For example, its summer Camp Commotion program was full every week at its limit of 45 kids.

Additionally, several of its various sports programs also reached their limits; the youth basketball league “was a huge success with 32 youth teams signed up and had 341 kids enrolled and had a waitlist of 46 kids”, Molinaro said, and the youth volleyball league, combined league with White River, was “very busy” with 150 kids enrolled in spring and fall.

“I used to play basketball, but the knees aren’t what they used to be, so [I’ve] given it up,” he added.

Finally, the department also purchased a mobile stage, which can be rented out for community events, coordinated a successful municipal flag contest (the winning flag, made by Kyle Miller, was ranked by the North American Vexillological Association in the top 22% of all flags ranked that year), and began a new Veterans Banners program to honor local vets in the downtown area.

PUBLIC WORKS

Enumclaw’s Public Works department is always busy providing residents with clean water, natural gas, and improving transportation around the city.

“The list of 2022 is so long, I’m only going to highlight some of the key areas that were accomplished,” Molinaro said.

Over in Water and Sewer, old steel water pipes replaced around the city, a bulk chemical storage at treatment plant is being designed, and a new sewer lift station is being designed.

And the Stormwater utility was awarded $4.8 million for upcoming projects.

“If we didn’t get these grants, we would still need to pull money out of our budget to be compliant with the codes,” Molinaro said.

Finally, Community Development has been busy issuing building permits, business permits, and prepping to start updating the city’s Comprehensive Plan, a two-year endeavor that will guide how Enumclaw grows over the next two decades.

Molinaro noted that there has been a decrease of building permits issued last year (down 17% since 2021) but that’s likely because large developments are now built out.

FINANCE

Money makes the world go round, right?

Overall, total city revenue from various taxes increased 10.6% from 2021, while expenses only increased 6.6%. This has helped the city increase its reserves to 16% of its budget, which could help save jobs or reduce taxpayer pressure if the economy turns sour.

Molinaro noted that two utilities had a rate increase — 9% for solid waste, which was necessary because King County increased its tipping fees, and 6% for natural gas.

“For other utilities that the city operates, you’ll notice several zeros for the last several years on the chart,” meaning no utility rate increases, Molinaro said. “This can be attributed to what I feel is fantastic management by our city staff that were able to obtain several grants… and not needing to dip into our capital reserves or capital funds.”

NEW PROJECTS

Finally, here are some projects residents can look forward to in the coming year and beyond.

The larger projects include renovating the Enumclaw pool, which is slated to begin in 2024; re-channelling Boise Creek where it runs through the Enumclaw golf course to prevent flooding (to start this year or 2024); and a major jail remodel to increase space and efficiency (timeline to be determined).

Smaller projects include a McFarland pickleball court, a new parking lot at Elk Meadows park, new play equipment at Flensted Park, and construction on a new skate park.

The city also hopes to get a new intercom system for the jail, new cameras for Enumclaw’s T.V. program, get security cameras installed in city shops, and upgrade the city’s financial software, which Molinaro noted is so old, will soon stop being supported by the company that provides it.