DUVALL — To an unknowing passerby, Duvall appears to be
nothing more than a few houses along State Route 203 and a row of charming
businesses in the downtown corridor.
But what isn’t so apparent is that the hills surrounding the city are
filled with new developments, growing families and expanding
communities. The city has increased so much that the council will need to add
more members within a couple of years. According to state law, once a
city’s population reaches 5,000, the city council must expand to a
seven-member body.
Duvall’s 4,435 population (as of April 1999) greatly exceeds that of
other Valley cities and as a result will force them to expand their
council first. North Bend, with a population of 3,815, will probably be next in
line, with Snoqualmie (2,020) and Carnation (1,785) following close behind.
The Office of Financial Management (OFM) calculates every
city’s population each April; the figures are based on the number of building
permits that are issued.
Since Duvall has been under a building moratorium for much of
last year and all of this year, the city only issued 89 permits in 1999 and a
handful this year. So Duvall wouldn’t have to worry about the population
exceeding the limit at least until next year, said Planning Director Doreen Wise.
But not all of the councilmembers are interested in waiting for
OFM’s population count results to bring in two interim councilmembers.
Instead, they want to start the candidate search process now.
“There may be some advantages to making a decision in March,”
said Mayor Pro Tem Pat Fullmer. “There’s a lag in interviewing and getting
a person on.
“It seems to take a couple of months to go through the
different steps.”
The council has been able to generate a high amount of interest in
filling vacancies in the past. The most recent appointment was made in
1998 when former Councilman Ernie Zumwalt had to step down from
the post because of a drug conviction. At that time, Fullmer recalled, about
17 people applied for the position.
“We want to give people enough time to apply,” she said. “It’s not
something that we want to rush.
“I think it’s important that people who apply should have some
knowledge of what’s happening in the city,” Fullmer added.
Councilman Tom Loutsis proposed to take the planning further
and hold a special election this fall because three council positions (Neal
Coy, Fullmer and Loutsis) and Mayor Glen Kuntz’s seat are up for re-election
next year.
“There’s no decision — it’s this year,” Loutsis said. “It doesn’t
make sense to have six elections in one year.”
Whenever the switch over takes place, Fullmer said that there
wouldn’t be many negative impacts from the change. However, the larger
council would allow members to divide the responsibilities into more
manageable pieces. Right now the five members each serve on two council
committees — community service, public
utilities, public works, public safety and finance.
“It’s not going to change the way we do business. We have a council
that works well and I hope that it will continue,” Fullmer said.
The city council did not take action on this issue at their meeting
on Thursday, February 24.
