Mountlake Terrace 2025 performance report: City exceeds business, public safety goals, affordable housing lags

The Mountlake Terrace City Council at its July 23 meeting heard city staff report on each department’s performance for 2025 based on the City’s 2024 strategic plan. City Manager Jeff Niten said that 92% of respondents now rate Mountlake Terrace as a good or excellent place to live, up from 85% in 2022. The survey was conducted by Polco, a private company that helps governments and public organizations collect resident feedback through surveys, polls and interactive tools to improve decision-making.

The performance report was in addition to other items presented during the July 23 meeting. You can read more in our earlier report here.

Niten said 72% of residents feel people from diverse backgrounds are valued and respected, but only 73% say all residents feel welcome – short of the City’s 90% target. He also pointed to a jump in logged volunteer hours – 3,235 hours in 2025 compared with 2,000 hours in 2022.

Overall, the data shows an “upward trend,” Niten said.

Councilmember Erin Murray asked how to address that the strategic plan’s goals may change or that some goals may not have been included when the plan was developed. Niten said updates would typically happen at the annual Council retreat, and that five‑year plans are most effective for aligning resources to the goals.

Affordable housing

Economic Development Manager Ryan Doss reported that the City did not meet its 2025 goal of recruiting at least one new mixed-use development, calling that shortfall “unsurprising” given high interest rates, elevated construction costs, limited access to financing, and tight capital markets. 

“Despite that, staff continue to advance projects that are already going through our process…so as market conditions improve, we’ll be well positioned,” he said.

However, Doss said business retention contacts exceeded the City’s goal of five per month, crediting the MLT Chamber of Commerce’s growth and events. Based on business license data, Doss said licenses rose from 283 in 2024 to 316 in 2025 (a 12% increase), surpassing the City’s target of 294. The number of jobs in Mountlake Terrace also increased from 209 to 352, but Doss cautioned that business license renewals can blur the line between new and existing positions.

Land use

Community and Economic Development Director Brooke Eidem outlined land use-related housing metrics and said the City recorded zero new housing units affordable to households at or below 80% of area median income (AMI) in 2025. This fell short of the City’s target of 182 per year, which she derived by evenly distributing the City’s 20‑year housing allocation. 

She told the Council that several applications are in review but not yet built, tying the shortfall to economic conditions that Doss had mentioned earlier. Eidem reported that 1,631 building permit applications were processed, which is below the target of 2,244. However, she said the City consolidated multiple mechanical, plumbing and electrical permits into single building permits, which lowered the number of permits. 

Eidem added that the number of housing units built were “far below” the annual goal of 289. She added that 87% of permits were reviewed within established timelines, which is an improvement from last year but still short of the City’s 99% goal.

Councilmember Kyoko Matsumoto Wright pointed out that annual targets for affordable units and total housing units built did not reflect how housing production actually happens. She said large projects make annual numbers “lumpy,” and she suggested viewing housing goals over several years instead of in one‑year slices

“One year you might get 50, another year you get zero, another year you get one,” she said. 

Mayor Steve Woodard asked if there’s a way to see how many permits were not completed on time. Eidem said the 87% on‑time figure in the presentation means 13% were late.

Recreation and parks

Recreation and Parks Director Jeff Betz said the Recreation Pavilion’s 2025 program attendance rose to 269,972 but remained below the department’s goal of 320,500. He said he hoped for a rebound in 2026.

Betz said the Recreation Pavilion pool would max out at 200 kids in the pool at any given time before the COVID-19 pandemic. Now it hovers around 120, he said.

By contrast, he said swim lesson registrations in 2025 is 1,470, short of the City’s goal of 1,600. Betz added that scholarship awards dropped sharply from the ARPA‑supported high point because post‑pandemic city funding is smaller and some families failed to use awards after receiving them.

“We want to see those scholarship dollars expended,” Betz said.  

Licensed daycare enrollment decreased even after the City added another class, although staff reported higher revenue from increased rates and expects enrollment to rebound in 2026, he said.

Betz also reported:

• 78% recreation cost recovery was achieved in 2025, up from a 62% baseline and exceeding the City’s 75% target. Betz said the increase was driven by fee adjustments and recreation programs “far exceeding their budgeted goals.”
• 80% of reported park issues were addressed within two workdays, up from a 75% baseline. Betz credited the addition of seasonal workers during the summer.
• Vandalism incidents, such as graffiti, decreased, with 75 reports compared to 90 in 2024.
• Playground inspections increased to 88 reports from the baseline of 85 as the City monitors aging equipment more closely. Betz said the City has removed deteriorated play structures.

Regarding the human resource department, Niten reported the following:

• 4.4 employees, on average, said they see themselves working for the City one year from now in 2025, up from 3.9 workers in 2024, according to the annual employee survey.
• 4.16 was the employee morale score in 2025, down slightly from 4.20 in 2024 but considered stable.
• Seven compensable workplace injuries were reported in 2025, down from 15 in 2024.
• 8.75% was the turnover rate for benefited employees in 2025, down from 16.85% in 2024 and below the typical municipal average of 9% to 12%.
• 10 employee training sessions were conducted in 2025, short of the City’s goal of 15 because of budget constraints.

City clerk and records

Niten also summarized the City Clerk’s Office performance and records management. He told councilmembers that records management training met the goal, with two in‑person or recorded sessions against a target of one. He said: 

• All council meeting materials were posted the Friday before meetings. 
• All agendas and minutes were posted within legal deadlines.
• All adopted ordinances and special meeting notices were published in the Everett Herald on time. 

Niten underscored that public records responses also met the 100% compliance goal for meeting the deadline. “There is no insurance for failure to comply, so we would pay out of our general fund.”

The federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) gives the public the right to access records from federal government agencies, promoting transparency and accountability. In Washington state, cities are generally governed instead by the state’s Public Records Act, which requires local governments to disclose most public records upon request unless a specific exemption applies.

City finance

Deputy City Manager Carolyn Hope reported that the City temporarily lost its general obligation bond rating after falling behind on its annual comprehensive financial reports and audits. This bond is issued by state or local government to raise money for public projects or general operating expenses.

However, Hope said the City is now caught up and has had “clean audits with no findings” adding the City’s finance team completed three years of back work in a year. Other metrics include:

• 115 utility accounts had outstanding balances, down from 206 in 2025.
• 691 passports were issued in 2025, below the City’s goal of 1,500, largely because staffing shortages and vacancies reduced passport office hours.

Information tech

Niten said the City’s IT staff completed 60% of capital projects in 2025 but added that nearly all of the remaining projects will be completed by the end of 2026. He reported:

• 99% system uptime met the City’s performance goal.
• 880 hardware devices were supported.
• 95 business software applications were supported, continuing an upward trend despite reducing software costs.
• 170 network users were supported across the City’s IT systems.
• 97% of employees passed cybersecurity phishing tests in 2025.

Code compliance

Brooke Eidem returned and reported open housing code violation cases increased by 8% throughout 2024, 8% housing more code violation cases were open in 2025 than in 2024, with 193 active cases at year’s end.

She also reported:

• 90% of code violation cases were resolved, exceeding the City’s goal of 85%.
• All closed code violation cases were resolved voluntarily, meaning the City did not have to perform any abatements in 2025.
• Seven code compliance education and outreach activities were provided in 2025, exceeding the City’s goal of four. These include MLT Academy presentations, newsletter articles, City Council and Planning Commission presentations, and local news coverage.

Public safety

Police Chief Pete Caw said the Mountlake Terrace Police Department met its goal of having all officers complete the state Criminal Justice Training Commission’s annual mandates and additional accreditation‑driven courses, such as use of force, pursuits and constitutional issues. 

Caw reported: 

• All critical incidents were communicated to police staff within two hours or by the end of the incident.
• Less than five minutes was the average response time for priority level one emergency calls, which are life-threatening events.
• 84% of surveyed residents rated Mountlake Terrace as a safe place, an increase from 80% in 2025.

In response to Woodard’s question about whether crime and safety issues have increased in the area around the Sound Transit light rail station. Caw said there has been “additional activity,” which is expected when density increases. Caw praised Sound Transit’s contracted security staff.

“They’re doing actually a very good job of triaging things before they call us and also not trying to handle things that are really outside of the scope of their responsibility,” he said. “They really exceeded my expectations.”

Property management

Betz reported that only 60% of maintenance requests were responded to within two workdays, which is below the 70% goal. He said increases in maintenance requests reflects both growing facility needs and better reporting by staff. However, Betz attributed slower response times and more after-hours maintenance callouts to major facility failures, including an eight-week Recreation Pavilion pool closure for a pipe repair and ongoing HVAC issues at city facilities, such as the police station.

He reported 300 maintenance requests were received in 2025, an increase from the City’s baseline of 150.

Communications

Based on the 2026 Polco community survey, Communications and Community Engagement Manager Sienna Spencer‑Markles said about 63% of residents rated the City as open and transparent, short of the 70% target. That is consistent with prior survey results since 2022, which have been in the mid-60s range.

She also reported: 

• A 40.3% increase in social media engagement among followers, exceeding the City’s goal of 27%.
• 42 community engagement opportunities were offered in 2025, establishing a new baseline for future measurements.
• 12% of community engagement materials were translated into languages other than English, falling short of the City’s 15% goal.
• More than 75 media stories resulted from the City’s outreach, exceeding the goal of 50 articles.

Public works

Public Works Director Gary Schimek reported three water main breaks in 2025 but said the department met its target of restoring service in under 12 hours. He said that staff are waiting for new asset management software to more accurately log and analyze work orders.

He reported:

• All of the 30 work requests to the Public Works were responded to within 24 hours.
• 90% of the City’s vehicle fleet was inspected.
• Closed-circuit television inspections of stormwater and water pipe systems fell to 5%, which is below the City’s goal of 20% because staff prioritized wastewater inspections and lacked capacity to also inspect the stormwater system, Schimek said.
• Zero traffic safety plans were completed in 2025, below the goal of one per year.
• 13 ADA-compliant curb ramps were completed, exceeding the City’s goal of 10.
• One traffic signal project was completed, meeting the City’s annual goal.

While Schimek acknowledged the missed goal of completing one neighborhood traffic safety plan in 2025, he told the Council that City staff expect to deliver one plan in 2026 and another the following year, led by Traffic Engineer John Marek. This includes the upcoming pedestrian and bicycle plan as part of the Main Street Revitalization Project.

Regarding waste management environmental issues: 

• The 30.3% waste diversion rate remained unchanged, with staff identifying additional education and outreach as a potential strategy to increase participation.
• Lower-than-expected material collected by street sweepers was attributed to fewer ice events, resulting in less salt and sand on roads.
• One sewer overflow occurred in 2025, despite a goal of zero. Schimek said achieving zero overflows is difficult because some causes, such as pump station power outages, are outside staff control.
• Zero wastewater discharge violations were reported, continuing a strong compliance trend under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES).
• 20% of eligible businesses participated in the City’s NPDES-related program, meeting the City’s goal.
• 137 trees were planted or added to the City’s tree canopy inventory, supporting the goal of increasing canopy coverage by 2050. Schimek credited collaboration with Sound Transit and the Parks Department for helping exceed the annual target.

The full presentation is on the City’s website. The full July 23 work session meeting is on the City’s YouTube channel, with the metrics section starting at 50:35.