Buckley City Councilman Ron Weigelt resigned last week, citing a residency requirement as his reason for stepping down.
Weigelt, who opposed Dan Roach in 2008’s election for a 31st District seat in the state Legislature, said he is sad to go.
“I would love to stay on the council because I have truly enjoyed working with that fantastic group of people,” he said. But since he’s moving from the area, there’s no choice but to go.
Weigelt, an Army veteran, serves as the human resources manager for the King County Health Department.
Weigelt said the highlights of his council service were the Main Street project and establishing a long-overdue storm drain plan for the city.
During his tenure with the council, mostly acting in the capacity of chairing the streets, sewers and storm drain issues, Weigelt discovered that sometimes one has to take the bad with the good.
“Buckley is a great little town with a real sense of community and I loved serving on the city council,” he said, “but even though we live in a democracy where people are encouraged to express themselves, the city would often have to beg people to show up and voice their opinions.
“There just always seemed to be a general sense of apathy when it came to folks showing up to those gatherings, getting involved and letting their feelings be known.”
But then there were the good times.
“When it came to getting things accomplished and completed, whose success seemed vital to the growth of their community – the Senior Housing Project and the Buckley Youth Center, for example – Buckley’s citizens would really pull together to get things done. Buckley’s volunteer programs, especially the fire department, are unsurpassed,” he said.
It was Weigelt’s final aspiration that more people would step to the plate and fill positions like the one that will be vacant after his departure on March 31. “Plus, for one reason or another, we currently have two or three openings on the Planning Committee that need to be filled by Buckley people who care about what is going on in this town and aren’t afraid to share their great ideas,” he said.
