March 10, 2019
 Last Tuesday, I joined the Auburn Area Chamber of Commerce in welcoming Washington State Smile Partners to Auburn.
Smile Partners is a non-profit organization that provides preventive oral health services, including dental cleaning, screening, sealants and fluoride, as well as education and dentist referrals, to low-income children in the Puget Sound area through portable and mobile clinics that bring professional dental hygiene teams into schools.
I was able to take a tour of one of the mobile clinics during my visit and learn more about the outreach they are doing throughout the region to help pre-schoolers build healthy dental habits while they still have their baby teeth and to help educate parents on good oral healthcare for their kids. The educational outreach they are doing is also a critical part of helping low-income families meet the dental screening and care requirements so their children qualify for federal programs like Head Start or ECAEP.
During this school year, Smile Partners is working in Auburn, Federal Way, Highline, Tukwila, Seattle, Bellevue, Bremerton, Belfair, Everett, Mukilteo, Arlington, Marysville and Edmonds school districts, using their Auburn offices as a home base for operations.
We are excited to have them join our business community. Welcome Smile Partners!
 Last Wednesday evening, I had the great opportunity to spend some time with Girl Scout Troop 42518 to talk about what the job of a mayor is and about what my typical day looks like.
The troop is working towards earning their Inside Government Badge and decided that the best way to learn about their local government was to spend some time talking with the people who help run it!
We had a lively discussion about the differences between the between local, state and federal government and about what some of the biggest challenges are that Auburn faces, what we are doing to address them, and how we can all contribute to making our city the best it can be.
I was truly awe-struck by the creative problem-solving these young ladies showed around issues that are often difficult for even adults to address. Our future is in good hands with these amazing scouts!
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"So many things are possible just as long as you don't know they're impossible."
- The Phantom Tollbooth, Norton Juster, 1961
On Tuesday afternoon, I joined Pacific Mayor Leanne Guier and Algona Councilmember Troy Linnell in sharing updates about our cities for the Auburn Area Chamber of Commerce State of the Cities.
The luncheon was catered by students from Auburn High School's CTE culinary program and included a question and answer period where each city had the opportunity to share information and perspective on different topics including how to pay for infrastructure needs, what makes our cities great for businesses, and my personal favorite ... "What super power do you wish you had?" In case you're curious, I wished for the power of teleportation so that I could shave a few hours of driving and sitting in traffic off of my weekly schedule.
If you weren't in attendance at Tuesday's event but still want to hear more about what's been happening throughout the city and what is planned for the year ahead, we will be holding the Auburn State of the City at 6 p.m., March 20, at the Auburn Avenue Theater. I would love to see you there!
Last Friday marked the first fiscal cut off of the 2019 legislative session. Bills that have been voted out of their policy committees must have already made their way through the fiscal committees of the House and Senate in order to move forward and bills that make the cut from there will then go to the floor for debate.
In the coming weeks, I'll share updates with you about the progress of bills that are important to Auburn as make their way through this process.
This year, we are asking our state legislature to address the following issues that face our city:
Streamlined Sales Tax Mitigation
In anticipation of new revenue from the Marketplace Fairness Act, the Legislature has indicated that it intends to discontinue the SST Mitigation program, a provisions that is designed to mitigate the loss some cities, including Auburn, experienced due to the
change in sourcing laws. However, revenues from the Marketplace Fairness Act have not increased at a level that would make our community whole if the Streamlined Sales Tax Mitigation Program were discontinued. We are asking the Legislature to reevaluate the decision to end this program.
Condo Law Reform
Washington’s laws regarding condominium construction create significant disincentives and impediments for builders to undertake new construction projects. As a result, new condominium construction has all but ground to a complete halt. We urge legislators and the Governor to begin to remediate these shortcomings in state law.
Strengthen State Public Records Act
We are asking the legislature to strengthen the Public Records Act in response to changing technology and burdensome requests, so that government entities can continue to provide open and transparent services.
SCORE Reimbursement
The City of Auburn strongly supports an initiative by the SCORE jail to adjust Department of Corrections jail-bed rates to more equitably reflect the market-based costs of housing prisoners.
Fully Fund Basic Law Enforcement Academy
It is increasingly difficult to fill officer vacancies due to the low number of spots available at the Basic Law Enforcement Academy. It’s often several months before a spot will open to begin training. We are requesting the legislature to fund additional slots so agencies can fill vacancies in a more timely manner.
Tiny Houses
We are encouraging the legislature to adopt Appendix Q of the International Residential Code (IRC). There is a distinction between the legislature enacting Appendix Q vs allowing cities to adopt Appendix Q, if they so choose. If the legislature enacts Appendix Q, the provisions will become applicable to all municipalities. If the legislature adopts the IRC and makes Appendix Q optional, it means that some cities will be friendly to Tiny Houses and some cities will not be. Because Tiny Houses are an important contribution to serving homeless populations, homelessness prevention, and affordable housing, the legislature should enact Appendix Q as an adopted element of the IRC.
Local Infrastructure Investments
The City of Auburn urges support for the following infrastructure initiatives:
- Public Works Trust Fund Loan Program - maintain this vital program at the appropriate funding levels.
- SR167/SR509 Gateway Projects – the City of Auburn supports the early implementation of the Puget Sound Gateway project (SR 167/SR 509).
- Transportation Funding – support sustainable options for local transportation needs such as a Street Maintenance Utility, preservation funding programs, and increased transportation funding for local/regional project needs that are not on state highways.
- SR18/SR167 Interchange - support an evaluation and review the interchange and capacity issues to improve access and reduce the daily congestion that is occurring at this location. Consider adding needed capacity improvements to the State’s Capital plan.
You can find out more about what bills and initiatives the City is pushing for action on at the state and federal level in our full Legislative Agenda on the City's website.
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