Bringing a strong pro-business message, City Manager Arlene Fisher told those gathered Wednesday at a Mountlake Terrace Business Association luncheon “our number-one priority is to make sure you succeed.”
Fisher spoke to more than two dozen business owners and managers at an event held at the Mountlake Terrace Community Senior Center.
Fisher, who has been the top administrator at Mountlake Terrace City Hall for just three months, stressed that city government is determined to help local small businesses grow and strive. “We are your biggest advocate and your best asset,” she said.
“We are here to help you; we serve you,” Fisher emphasized.
Fisher pointed to the continued efforts of the city to revitalize the Town Center district, to push for continued economic development throughout the city, to lobby state and federal officials for more funding of street and utility upgrades, to have a two-minute response time by police when called, and to keep utility taxes low as aspects of the city’s support for business.
She also stated that city department personnel want to work with investors and developers in overcoming obstacles that prevent new projects. “We are a solution-based city,” Fisher declared. “A lot of other cities are ‘our way or the highway,’ because they can. We want to find solutions.”
When asked about the possibility of another try by city officials at passing a municipal bond measure to build a new city hall, Fisher said there would be no attempt this year. But she hinted that a bond measure might be put before voters in 2015 or 2016.
“Most likely we will go out then,” she said. “It’s a have-to-do. We have to do something. What we are paying in rent now would be the same as a bond payment.”
Fisher also disclosed that the city council is likely to approve at its June 2 meeting a $75,000 allocation to prepare a Master Plan for the Ballinger Lake passive park. City officials have been gathering public comment on the former Ballinger Lake Golf Course for close to 18 months and seemed poised to take planning for the 42-acre site to the next level.
The Mountlake Terrace Business Association (MLTBA) holds a quarterly networking lunch in addition to other events throughout the year. The group plans on hosting a job fair in June and a business picnic in July. For more information about the MLTBA, visit their Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Mountlake-Terrace-Business-Association/235263406523193.
— Story and photo by Doug Petrowski
Referring to the cost of another try at a bond for a new city hall, our new city manager told the MLT business association that “What we are paying in rent now would be about the same as a bond payment.”
If that really is the math from which she is approaching the challenge, we may be making progress. An annual payment of $420,000 once a year, each year for 30 years at a rate of 4.5% projects a bond measure of less than $7 million.