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Long-time City of Mountlake Terrace Planning Commissioner and community volunteer Vic Sood was honored by the Mountlake Terrace City Council Monday, July 2, for his years of community service.
With Sood sitting next to her at Monday night’s council business meeting, Community Relations Director Virginia Olsen lauded him for “decades of outstanding service to this community.
Noting she has worked with Sood since he joined the planning commission in 2004, Olsen then ticked off a long list of Sood’s accomplishments:
He and former Mountlake Terrace City Manager Bob White worked together and were instrumental in passing legislation to form the Snohomish County Public Transportation Benefit Area, which was later renamed Community Transit. Sood served as Community Transit’s first executive director, from 1976 to 1984, and during his tenure both the Lynnwood and Mountlake Terrace transit facilities opened. He was president of the Washington State Transit Association from 1982-83.
Sood also started a new transit system in Oakland, Calif., where he worked from 1984-2003. In 2005, Sood was inducted into the American Public Transit Association’s Hall of Fame “for all of his work nationally on transit issues,” Olsen said.
During Sood’s 14 years on the planning commission, Olsen noted, “the city has won several awards — most notably the Citizens Involvement Award for our Town Center planning process from the State of Washington in 2007, and three highly coveted Puget Sound Regional Council Vision 2040 awards — for the Arbor Village project in 2009; the Housing Choices award in 2014 and the Town Center Regional Stormwater Facility in 2015.”
In addition to his work on the planning commission, Sood served on the Mountlake Terrace City Council in 1979 and 1980. He also was co-chair of the Civic Facilities Advisory Task Force in 2008 and on the City Hall Advisory Commission in 2017.
“As you can see on many fronts, but in particular for transit issues, Vic Sood has made a significant, positive impact — not only upon Mountlake Terrace residents but for all of Snohomish County, and even beyond,” Olsen said.
“I’m at a loss for words, actually,” Sood said after the presentation. “My family’s motto was ‘we serve.’ My father served on the town council in Kenya for 25 years.”
Sood’s late wife, Manu, was a member of the city’s Arts Advisory Commission, and a scholarship fund has been established in her memory for Mountlake Terrace High School art students. Sood’s son Nalin is long-time varsity boys basketball coach for Mountlake Terrace High School.
Sood’s recognition was viewed by an extended family of children and grandchildren who came to the meeting, including son Nalin and daughter Meera; they later joined him for a photo with councilmembers to commemorate the occasion.
In other business, the council voted to approve an interlocal agreement with Snohomish County to accept $80,000 that will pay for Americans with Disabilities Act ramps and sidewalks on the 214th Street Southwest sidewalk between 40th and 44th Avenues West.
Snohomish County Councilmember Terry Ryan attended the meeting to present a ceremonial check for the project; the actual expenses will be reimbursed to the city after the project is complete.
The money will be used to install pedestrian-accessible facility improvements consisting of filling in some of the gaps in the existing sidewalk on the north side of 214th Street Southwest.
— Story and photos by Teresa Wippel
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