Election 2009: Three candidates face off for Monroe council seat #2
Sky Valley offers lots of low-cost family fun this season

BY POLLY KEARY, EDITOR

Among the three Monroe city races that will require an Aug. 18 primary runoff to narrow the field to two contenders is the four-way race between Todd Fredrickson, Patsy Cudaback, Paul Loots and Bridgette Tuttle for Council Seat Position #2.

Of the four, one candidate, Todd Fredrickson, has decided not to campaign. Several months ago he wrote a guest editorial to the Monroe Monitor about his battle with melanoma skin cancer; that battle will require all his attention, he has decided.

The remaining three met with the Monroe Monitor last week to discuss their experience, reason for running, and top three concerns for the city.

Bridgette Tuttle

Bridgette Tuttle, 35, is a substitute para educator in the Monroe School District and a loan officer. She also co-owns a small business, a Kirkland auto-detailing shop that she runs with her husband. She has lived in Monroe eight years and has two children ages 7 and 9, at Salem Woods Elementary. She lives near the hospital, and is a member of the PTA and the truancy board.

Her education background includes a degree from Eastern Washington University and additional education at Northwest in Kirkland, and she is one term paper short of a bachelor's degree in business, which she anticipates completing in August.

Tuttle grew interested in city council during conversations with family friend Kurt Goering, currently a city council member. She is running, she said, out of a desire to help out in the city. "I like to be involved," she said. "I'm not running because anyone's necessarily doing anything wrong. We love our town, and I know it's hard to get people to commit, but I'm willing."

One thing she feels will stand her in good stead is her ability to think critically and discuss things rationally. "I'm not a polarizing person," she said. "I play well with others. You have to look at both sides of an issue and do what's best for the town."

Of the three candidates campaigning, the only newcomer to city politics, something she believes could be an advantage. "I haven't already formed an opinion on North Kelsey and things like that will be useful," she said.

The thing that interests her the most as a potential council member is looking out for the interests of small businesses. "Just from the perspective of a small business owner, it's disturbing to see how many small businesses are closing here," she said. "Small business needs to be addressed."

Public safety is also a primary concern. "I want to help Monroe be a place people can work, live and call home," she said. "You have to feel good that kids can go out in the park and play."

She feels that her background gives her skills that are strong assets for those in public service. "I understand finances and budgets," she said. "I understand tightening your belt making sacrifices, living within your means in the economic times we're in. Budgets are a problem in every house business, town, it never goes away."

And she understands the needs of families," she said."And as a parent, I can relate to families. I'd like a bowling alley, something for kids to do, like a putt-putt golf course."

Her well-rounded background and non-partisanship make her a good candidate, she said. "I hope that what I would bring is a multi-dimensional aspect to city council," said Tuttle.

Patsy Cudaback

Patsy Cudaback, 43, is the director of the Monroe YMCA. She has worked at the YMCA for 12 years, has lived in Monroe for five years, and has two children, ages 2 and 7. She earned her undergraduate degree in political science and business at Washington State University, then went on to Seattle University and studied law, eventually passing the bar. Although she doesn't practice law, she keeps her license current.

Although Cudaback is running for office for the first time, she is no stranger to city hall. During the year in which the YMCA was raising funds for the construction of the building it now occupies on Fryelands Boulevard, Cudaback was a regular at city council meetings, working with the city to craft a deal whereby the city, through its parks and recreation program, bought access to some classes and hours for free for Monroe residents. She has also turned up to discuss other areas of concern to her, including the sign ordinance passed several years ago. And she has worked with downtown merchants to explore ideas for preserving and developing the historic district downtown.

The experience of living in a small town has gotten her interested in serving on city council, she said. "I feel very connected to my neighbors," she said. "It's not like Seattle. Here you see your neighbors around town."

She has been interested in politics all her life, she said. "I believe it's the ultimate public service," she said. "If you do it for the right reasons, giving up yourself."

She is running this year, she said, because there are some issues she feels are so important she'd like to work on them with the city. "I think Monroe has some opportunities that I see that other people would agree we need to address," she said. "We have North Kelsey, we need to do that right. I think it's extremely important to make North Kelsey a destination, and we need to hold to that vision."

Another issue she said concerns her is the vitality of the downtown. One way to increase the vitality of the town is to bring an institute of higher learning to the area, she said. "One thing I think a lot of people don't know is that Everett Community College wants to bring a branch campus to Monroe," she said. "That's a huge opportunity, it would mean more housing, more business."

Also, stimulating the downtown will require more participation from landlords. "You have to have landlords that are willing to make changes," she said. "We have a small group of people who are really passionate about the downtown, but how do we get the landlords involved?"

Cudaback also thinks her experience would make her useful in approaching lean budgets. "Being fiscally responsible is something I have to do as a non-profit," she said. "We have to do a lot more with less."

As much as she has a lot of ideas for how to help the city, she is also really interested in learning what the people of Monroe want, she said. "Part of the reason I want to run is I want to listen," she said. "I want to be a representative of the people instead of pursuing my own agenda."

Paul Loots

Paul Loots, 40, is a restaurant designer. He has lived in Monroe in the Fryelands since 2002, and has two daughters in the Sky Valley Education Center, including a senior and a freshman. He got a two year degree from ITT Tech, then worked for an industrial engineering firm for three years before becoming a professional restaurant designer.

He moved to the Monroe with his family in order to find a house in a price range unavailable in Kirkland, where they had lived before. Owning that house gave him a strong sense of commitment to the town, he said. "I just wanted to get involved," he said. "I got such a sense of ownership."

He first sought involvement in 2007 when former city council member Ken Berger resigned. Loots was one of more than a dozen people to apply to take his spot. Although he wasn't chosen, he decided to seek an empty seat on the Monroe Planning Commission. He was chosen to fill and empty seat and has enjoyed it greatly the last two years, he said. "I love it," he said. "I think it's great. I wasn't sure what to expect, I thought you had to have a background in city planning but it turned out that you don't, so I did it, and I love it and I feel like I'm making a difference."

Loots was also on the Downtown Steering Committee, and ad hoc group that helped the city develop design standards and ordinances for the downtown. Now he'd like to turn his attention to several matters of current importance to the city, he said. "Two of the biggest are the downtown and North Kelsey," he said. "We need to turn Monroe into kind of a destination for shopping. The other thing is traffic, of course, because it hinders business."

Thirdly, he said, he'd like to do whatever it takes to not have to increase taxes in the current economic climate. His experience in the restaurant industry has helped him on the planning commission, and would be helpful on the city council, too, he said. "When we oversee construction of a restaurant, thats something I've gotten a lot out of," he said. "The owners are not contractors, so they hire us to look out for their best interests. We are expected to make difficult decisions. Because the owners are going to live with that building for a long time to come. So I've learned to do that, and I've also learned to ask the experts for what they think."

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