Kent mayor: City soldiers on in spite of recession

Kent Mayor Suzette Cooke received a standing ovation before and after her fourth annual State of the City Address in front of a crowd of about 150 at the Kent Chamber of Commerce luncheon Wednesday at the ShoWare Center.

Cooke kept primarily an upbeat tone as she touched on numerous topics during the 45-minute speech, including the economy, annexation, public safety, Green River levee repairs and the unfinished downtown parking garage. Guests paid $30 to attend the luncheon on a second-floor room in the southeast corner of the ShoWare Center.

“I love serving you because you show how much you love your community through supplying jobs, building homes and living here,” Cooke said during her closing remarks. “I’ve pledged to work as strong as I can as long as I can to make Kent, your city, the best city around.”

Cooke, who is up for reelection this year for another four-year term, told how the recession has impacted the city budget with less sales-tax revenue and building-permit fees.

“City government is not immune to the economic crisis,” said Cooke, whose image was projected on two large screens on each side of her as she spoke from a center podium. “Last spring we began to address the economic downturn and reduced operating expenses, delayed filling positions and extended the use of city vehicles for one year longer.”

The ongoing efforts by the four city unions to work with city officials on saving money in their contracts to avoid layoffs received plenty of praise from Cooke.

“They have responded magnificently,” Cooke said. “At this point, we are able to keep employees and not lay off anyone. We do have 28 positions we are not filling to save dollars. But the employees have been awesome in caring not only for each other but willing to take home less money in their pockets. And they’re doing the best they can with reduced staff.”

Cooke applauded the opening of the ShoWare Center in January. The city-owned arena is the home of the Seattle Thunderbirds minor league hockey team as well as host to concerts, high school graduations, the circus and other events.

“More than 400,000 people per year will come through the ShoWare Center and add $16 million to the economy,” Cooke said. “The waits are up to two hours at local restaurants (before events) and now businesses on Meeker and First Avenue are getting impacted as well.”

Despite the recession, Cooke announced that Alaska Copper and Brass Co., will move to Kent from Seattle later this year. The company, which manufactures and distributes a full line of metal products, plans to employ 100 at the old Ball Corporation beverage-can plant near the West Valley Highway at 27402 72nd Ave. S.

“Put a smile on your face and give me a horn,” Cooke said before she made the announcement about the company moving to town. She used her mouth to make a horn sound.

Cooke also mentioned construction of a new 100-bed Hampton Inn on 64th Avenue South and the 80,000-square-foot expansion of the Green River Community College campus at Kent Station as two other projects going up in Kent despite the recession.

“That will attract 700 more students to downtown Kent,” Cooke said of the college addition, slated to be completed in the fall.

But Cooke said the city still lacks one key element.

“We’re missing a high-quality downtown residency to make higher use of the businesses downtown,” she said. “I’ve asked city staff to develop incentives for urban-style, mixed-use developments. A thriving downtown benefits the whole community.”

Later in the speech, Cooke talked about the unfinished downtown parking garage at West Smith Street and Fourth Avenue. A planned hotel and retail center associated with the project also fell through when its developer ran out of money.

“That’s the biggest albatross in Kent,” Cooke said of the vacant, half-built structure. “The bank has now settled all of the liens and put it up for sale. We’re working with the bank and the development community for a solution and will continue to do everything we can to attract a high-quality development.”

The potential annexation of 24,000 residents in the Panther Lake area northeast of the city remains undecided. The City Council has yet to set a date to send a ballot to Panther Lake residents to vote on whether to join the city.

“The Council is in deliberation on whether to move ahead,” Cooke said. “It would cost us more to serve that area than the money we would get back. We are counting on the state to provide matching dollars (and make it affordable) to serve the area. If we annex, we would be the sixth-largest city in the state at 110,000.”

Cooke said the police and fire departments are fully staffed for the first time. The police department handled 6,890 cases last year and 3,214 criminals were put in jail.

“We’ve really beefed up our investigations to find a way to catch folks,” Cooke said.

As far as the Green River levees, Cooke said she continues to lobby the state and will leave in two weeks to Washington, D.C., in an effort to get funding for repairing the 14 miles of levees in the city. She hopes to get as much as $33 million from the federal government and $10 million from the state.

“If the levees are not rebuilt, flood insurance will go up because of the increased risk,” she said. “The levees are getting eroded over time.”

While there was a charge to watch Cooke’s State of the City Address, you can see it free by going to www.kenttv21.com. The speech also will be aired on Channel 21 (Comcast customers) at 6 a.m., 10 a.m., 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. from Friday through March 17.