By Doug Petrowski

Snohomish County Executive Aaron Reardon briefly addressed the Mountlake Terrace City Council Thursday evening as part of the council’s regularly scheduled work/study session. Reardon, who is serving his third consecutive term as county executive, covered a variety subjects including Sound Transit light rail, a Paine Field training center and county economic development. He did not mention the ongoing investigation the Washington State Patrol is conducting on accusations he misused county funds and resources to campaign for his re-election and to cover up an alleged affair.

After his address to the city council, Reardon told a reporter he doesn’t know any details of the current investigation, nor is it interfering with his work as county executive.

In addition to being county executive, Reardon currently serves as a vice-chair on the Sound Transit Board of Directors. He has recently shown support for placing the planned north link of Sound Transit light rail alongside Interstate 5 in Mountlake Terrace.

“When I first started in this role I was convinced that Highway 99 was the best option, but looking at all the data it’s empirical that it is not the best option,” Reardon said. Mountlake Terrace Mayor Jerry Smith and members of the city council lobbied Sound Transit for the north link to run through Mountlake Terrace along the freeway. In addition, tentative plans now call for a light rail station to be located at the Mountlake Terrace transit center at I-5 and 236th Street Southwest.