2009 hasn’t been the kindest of years to FederalWayan.

One upshot was the passage of Proposition 1, the bitterly contested power-struggle between the entrenched, corporatist city council and a new paradigm of strong leadership. We have yet another year, however, to wait for that to come to fruition. The City Council is not interested in using the people’s money to reduce their own power by spending it on something that 52% of the people want. Curious, too, is the council’s camp’s insistence that they canceled a search for a new city manager because the switch to a new form of government would obviate the need for one, despite their insistence during the campaign that one would still be necessary even with a strong mayor, and even more confusing in light of the year they have now added to that transition.

One big downshot in our opinion is the city’s impending loss of Metropolitan Market, which will close their doors for the last time on January 6. The store has been named Federal Way’s Best Grocery Store by the Mirror’s polls for five years in a row, which is also the entire time the Dash Point branch has been open. Apparently, being Federal Way’s best is not good enough for Metropolitan, which has been packed on a daily basis ever since the word of its closure went out. Given that the city government and business community has said or done nothing about this, perhaps they are right. Locals fear that the Metro location will be snatched up by a jilted LA Fitness which was denied permission to open in Twin Lakes by the city government, who apparently thinks that it’s better to have a huge vacant building than a new business — as evidenced by the growing number of large vacant buildings in town. For FederalWayan’s part, we’ll be writing to the regional manager of Whole Foods telling them about a great newly available location with an existing customer base.

The esteemed city government also denied Federal Way commuters and visitors a better driving experience in and out of Federal Way from the interstate when it killed the City Center Access Project, deciding that it’s best to kowtow to two tiny neighborhoods rather than work towards the benefit of the city at large. Lakewood, population 58,000, has 6 exits on I-5; Federal Way, population 89,000, has half that. The preferred solution for the City Council is to tear up the downtown sidewalks to expand busy 320th; yet another example of the failed, nice-to-look-at-but-wouldn’t-want-to-live 50s-era suburban folly which guides every decision of the city government.

A confusing series of events occurred in the realm of the city municipal court this past election. Embattled presiding judge Michael Morgan lost his position to Rebecca Walls, who overcame a serious lack of experience by challenging Morgan’s unpopular management style. But Walls won’t be taking over the reins — that will go to former school board president Dave Larson, who had dismissed the attacks on Morgan when they were first challenged and continued to support his fellow judge all along. Those who voted to clear out the Morgan administration by replacing him with Walls will likely end up not getting what they expected.

In February the Regional Library closed for remodeling, cutting off the city’s largest public research and study center in an age when libraries are falling out of fashion via competition from a growing wealth of easily available online material. The KCLS placed a small library in the Commons Mall, adding a small spot of quiet and studiousness to one of the city’s biggest youth attractions. FederalWayan’s only complaint about this location is the word “Temporary” on it’s signage. We think the Commons Library location should join similar locations at Southcenter and Crossroads and become a permanent LibraryConnection location.

The recent month’s distraction from the city’s ills, post-election, has been the much ado about nothing regarding the Twin Lakes Country Club. Few Federal Wayans have likely ever set foot on Twin Lakes’ property, outside of perhaps a wedding reception or office party; but the fear of losing the elite status symbol has sent the Twin Lakes neighborhood, as well as the Mirror, into a frantic tizzy — which fizzled predictably when the big meeting to Do Something About It failed to attract a sufficient number of actually concerned residents.

On the topic of local politics, both local political parties showed themselves to be out of touch with the city’s residents when they both chose to oppose Proposition 1. Whether this was the result of the influence that the backwards-looking city boosters has on these groups, or whether it was the work of a well orchestrated and ferocious pro-council coffee klatch, the upswing is that both parties ended up on the side of the minority of Federal Way’s voters.

In 2010, we look forward to RapidRide Line A, which will run from Federal Way to Tukwila to link our city up to the Central Link Light Rail line. We look forward, hopefully, to the beginning of construction at Symphony. We look forward to the opening of a presumably improved Regional Library. But most importantly, we look forward to a popularly elected strong mayor who will provide a coherent face, voice, and vision for Federal Way, and an end to the lagging, stagnant, living-in-the-past city government our city has endured for far too long.

This information is a little harder to get than one might expect. The city’s website doesn’t showcase former mayors or even councilpeople. I suppose that should not come as a surprise in the city that the Mirror once complained had no clear leaders.

Here is the list of past mayors and deputy mayors of Federal Way.

• 1989: Debbie Ertel and Mary Gates
• 1992: Bob Stead and Joel Marks
• 1994: Mary Gates and Phil Watkins
• 1996: Skip Priest and Hope Elder
• 1998: Ron Gintz and Michael Park
• 2000: Michael Park and Linda Kochmar
• 2002: Jeanne Burbidge and Dean McColgan
• 2004: Dean McColgan and Linda Kochmar
• 2006: Michael Park and Jim Ferrell
• 2008: Jack Dovey and Eric Faison

Fun Fact: All but three elections for either mayor or deputy mayor were unanimous: Mayor and deputy mayor in 1989, and mayor in 2002. All but two were uncontested (2002 mayor was uncontested but not unanimous).

While we’re at it, here’s a rough rundown of who has been city manager and deputy/assistant city manager (when there has been one):

• 1989: Al Locke
• 1990: J. Brent McFall
• 1994: Kenneth Nyberg
• 1996: (Deputy) Philip Keightley
• 2000: David Moseley
• 2005: (Deputy) Derek Matheson
• 2007: Neal Beets

Fun Fact: The longest-serving member of the city council in history was Mary Gates (1989-2003 inclusive). The current longest-serving member is Michael Park, counting time spent in office. The current member with the earliest appearance on the council is Jack Dovey, who joined the council in 1995 but did not serve from 2000-2002 inclusive.

Another Fun Dovey Fact: Of the three times the Council has had to make a mid-term appointment to replace a councilmember, twice they selected Jack Dovey, in 1995 and 2003. The other time was Eric Faison in 2001.

Fun Elected Mayor Fact: Outgoing councilmember and Deputy Mayor Joel Marks introduced a council proposal to make the mayor a publicly elected position in December 1993.

A Random Fun Fact Of Which The Significance Is Really Unclear To Me: Federal Way’s City Fathers (do we have Mothers too?) include a man named Ross Hennings.

And A Final Random Fun Fact: The Council was advised against commissioning a city logo in 1990 because of “the possible name change of the city”. Sometimes I wonder, “what if….” (Actually, it’s usually more like “if only….”)

All info compiled from a rather-non-exhaustive online search of city council minutes.

Early returns show the strong mayor proposal is coming out behind the status quo — but by a much closer margin than some predictions would have led you to expect.

I didn’t see any of the usual Vote Yes To Elect Our Mayor signs on the way to work today. But I did see some new additions: Vote No To Keep Our Council/Manager signs. Nice work, guys. Is this why Federal Way Works — because the entrenched status quo tilts the field against change?

In other news, the Council backpedaled on its anti-homeless proposal to make it illegal for poor people to try and get money. The only councilmember that didn’t vote to postpone the vote while softer options are considered was unelected-Mayor Dovey, who is all for getting the ugly homeless scum off our streets so obscure-niche small businesses like his can exist in a nice-looking city, ASAP. (Dovey backed the unpopular Celebration Park. Maybe his next public works project will be a nice run-down poorhouse in North Lake.)

Talk about having a point proved for you. If anyone needs a reason why we need an elected mayor, look no further than the very first day of the city council’s new session. From the Mirror:

The move to appoint Dovey as mayor was proposed by city council member Linda Kochmar, seconded by Park and unanimously approved by the council. Kochmar nominated Dovey because of his seniority on the city council and his awareness of the business community, she said.

Jack Dovey is FW’s new mayor, and you and I had nothing to do with it. Nor did anything Jack Dovey has done — except repeatedly get reelected to the council. Kochmar admits her reason was, at least in part, based on seniority; not on skill, leadership, or any other attribute. And the rest of the council cheerily agreed. The club just simply decided that it was Jack’s turn to be in the big chair.

One wonders what the result would be if you put a poll to the people of Federal Way and asked them which city council member they would prefer as their city’s mayor. I don’t think it would be Dovey. But the people of Federal Way don’t get to decide. The city’s booster club does.

You’d better not pout
You’d better not cry
You’d better not shout
I’m tellin’ you why
Accountability’s coming to town

I never thought I’d agree with Frosty Hardison, but I agree with everything he said in his latest letter to the Mirror (well, except for the revolving restaurant bit, which was very strange). Granted, I’m confident my ulterior interest in an elected mayor differs greatly from his. And I don’t expect that an elected mayor will give the Hardisons any new traction on their myriad collection of urgent city issues (like, say, our lack of revolving restaurants). But, it’s telling, I think, that so many diverse interests agree that Federal Way is growing too big for the amorphous, detached twice-monthly booster club known as the City Council.

It seems every time someone in town advocates that Federal Way could use some changes in order to grow into the city it says it wants to be, someone comes out and insists that Federal Way is fine the way it is and never needs to change.

And when that happens, the Federal Way News always seems to be the conduit.

Fact is, though, the city is changing, and eagerly. A remote little residential village for decades, Federal Way became a city around 15 years ago and shortly thereafter began a course of growth, entering what is the South King County royal rumble between the growth-focused cities of Renton, Kent, and Federal Way, with the venerated Auburn as an underdog and Tacoma as a grinning upper-league spectator. So far, FW has navigated this growth via the structure of a small town.

Roy Parke says that’s simply not maintainable. Parke has presented the latest challenge to the city’s ingrained sense of inertia: he wants to replace the strong-council government with an elected mayor system. With diligent collecting at bus stops and city events, he has succeeded in getting the required number of signatures to get the measure on the ballot in the next few months.

As always seems to happen in these matters, a resident spoke out against Parke’s efforts in the News. The city government is perfectly fine, the author insists, and therefore there is no need to change it to the sort of government normally used by growth-oriented cities.

A few years ago, the Federal Way Mirror lamented the city’s lack of leader figures. With the mayor being selected by and among a small group of people and changing every two years, it’s hard to look up to the mayor as a city leader. The residents of Federal Way neither get to select their city’s leader, nor their city’s manager.

What boggles my mind is that Donald Dennis, the writer of the anti-elected-mayor letter to the News, suggests that this is actually a good thing:

An elected Mayor may be someone who has no experience running a city, a business or anything else that gives them the skills for the job.

The successful candidate may just be the person who gives the best speeches and makes the best impression with the voting public.

They are not subject to an interview or reference checks by the voter. There is very little guarantee that the voters will elect someone who will really be qualified to be the “CEO” of the city.

It’s hard for me personally to be swayed by someone who suggests that democratic elections are inferior to electing a once-a-week oligarchy to make these decisions for us instead. I like democracy. And (to my surprise) I have better faith, in principle, in the ability of the populace to make decent decisions as to whom should lead them; and at least as well as the city council.

Dennis tries to bolster the city-manager model by pointing out that the city manager gets picked by a nationwide search and can be from anywhere. He presents this as a good thing — but I don’t think so. Just as I want a boss who understands the work I do, I want a city manager who understands the city. I want them to have a personal connection to it beyond just a job, bouncing from city to city over their careers. Someone without a personal connection to the city isn’t going to be in a great position to help the city form its identity, either.

Let’s forget about the city manager (or “city CEO”, a term I really hate, because I don’t think cities should act like businesses — businesses are for making money, cities are for benefiting their residents) for a minute. Let’s talk about the city mayor. In theory, the city mayor is the representative of the city to the outside world. Shouldn’t the people be able to pick their own representative? Instead, they pick one of seven people, who has a 1/7 chance of becoming that representative. We don’t elect members to a Senatorial Council to pick our senators for us, nor a Governor Council to pick our state governor for us. Why then is it better for us to have a council pick our closest governmental leader?

I say let us pick our own mayor, and bring out the city’s leaders to show themselves and take up the role.