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To help Brier residents learn more about the candidates campaigning for the Brier City Council, MLTnews sent a questionnaire asking about each one’s vision for the future of the city and how they plan to address issues Brier faces.
Incumbent David Marley is seeking re-election to the council’s Position 5 seat. He is campaigning against Kevin Davis. Both candidates will appear on the Nov. 7 general election ballot.
Q: Why are you running for Brier City Council? What do you hope to accomplish?
Brier is a unique, small-town community and I want to do my part to retain this atmosphere.
Q: What experiences would you bring to the council and how are they relevant to the position?
I have been involved with the City of Brier since shortly after moving here. First, as a member of the planning commission, and then as a member of the council. In addition to this, I’ve done volunteer work for school, church, youth sports and charitable organizations for the past 30+ years.
Q: What is your vision for Brier?
Brier is a highly-sought after location in which to establish a home and while this area has seen tremendous change over the recent years, the desirability of Brier remains strong. My vision is to keep Brier’s small-town character and attractiveness.
Q: In your opinion, what is Brier’s most pressing issue and what are your solutions for addressing it?
Brier’s most pressing issue is addressing legislation coming out of Olympia. Recently passed laws could radically change the look and feel of Brier and we need to understand how to address these new laws while keeping Brier a unique community in Snohomish County
Q: How do you plan to encourage residents to become more civically engaged?
The best way to keep residents engaged is by ensuring they have access to information. Over the past year, we have discussed technological upgrades that would enable this, but this effort was sidetracked while we worked through the Regional Fire Authority issue. Now that voters have passed that, I look forward to continuing this effort to make information more readily available to the community.
Q: The neighboring city of Mountlake Terrace is preparing for growth with the arrival of Sound Transit’s Lynnwood Link light rail. How do you think this growth will impact Brier – if at all – and if so, how would you help to prepare the city for it?
I believe the most noticeable impact will be an increase in traffic through Brier as people travel to and from the light rail access points. This will be further affected by new development just outside our border on the eastside. Unfortunately, we do not receive funding to mitigate the traffic impact. We have current traffic data and will be able to measure the future impacts. I hope this will give us enough information to apply for grants if traffic mitigation becomes an issue.
Q: How will you work to promote equity both within city government and for Brier residents?
One of the benefits of a small city is the easy access to city officials. I strongly encourage people to reach out to the council and mayor to discuss any concerns they might have, or just to chat about anything that might be on their mind.
Q: Are Brier’s current levels of staffing for its police department adequate? If so, expand on your thoughts and – if not – how might the city pay for additional policing?
Our current staffing levels fall short of what we need to run the police department. We have used the Snohomish County Sheriff department to supplement our police force while we continue to try to bring our staffing up to the required number of officers. I think it is worth noting that the difficulty in finding police officers is a regional issue and is an item of concern for other cities as well.
Q: What are the most pressing environmental issues the city currently faces and your proposals to address those?
We are under pressure to increase density in our city. One only has to look at recent housing developments just outside our borders to see what that looks like. Brier offers about two square miles of alternative to high-density development and the environmental impacts that accompany it.
Q: Where can people contact you to learn more about your campaign?
I’ll be developing a website but, in the meantime, I can be reached at david4briercouncil@gmail.com or simply stop me when you see me out for one of my walks.
I think we need to prioritize the road mitigation efforts, like more crosswalks and blinking lights and speed bumps to dampen the speed of those who want a quick, fast access to other locations but through Brier.
David Marley should continue to represent Brier. David has been an involved resident for as long as I can remember. He is not one to sit on his hands and criticize community efforts from home over social media. He gets involved in his community as his past experience as a Planning Commisioner and Council Member have shown.
Your vote will be well cast by voting for informed candidates like David Marley.
Bob Colinas, Former Brier Mayor