Public safety tops list of concerns for annexation

Published 4:01 pm Monday, September 27, 2010

Approximately two dozen residents of the Rhododendron Park Community turned out Saturday afternoon for the management company’s annual meeting, which this year featured a special discussion of the area’s potential annexation into Bonney Lake next year.

On hand for the discussion and to answer questions about the potential annexation were Mayor Neil Johnson and Deputy Mayor Dan Swatman, who spoke to residents about their concerns about entering the city.

Many of the questions focused on public safety, one of the main reasons members of the area are considering joining the city.

Johnson told the residents Bonney Lake is in better financial shape than most other cities because it has been “fortunate over the years” and has built up an ending fund balance of more than $4 million. Because of that, he said, the city is able to provide a high level of service and promised that if the annexation goes through, additional police officers would be added to help patrol the new areas of the city.

“A lot of other cities are cutting cops; we won’t,” Johnson said. “We’ll add accordingly. The No. 1 goal for us is public safety.

“We have plenty of coverage to make sure this area is covered,” he said.

Members of the Rhododendron Park Maintenance Company’s board of directors also had concerns about street lighting and parks, which the management company presently collects dues to pay for, but would like to see the city take over if the area is annexed.

“If we’re going to pay you taxes, we want you to take over the big costs,” board member Jim Manny said.

According to Swatman, it will be up to the homeowners if the areas private parks are turned over to the city for maintenance, but he and Johnson cited the success at Cedarview Park as an example of a city taking over and making improvements to a private park.

Swatman also told those in attendance that becoming part of the city would give residents more local control over development because it would mean having a councilman dedicated to the area instead of being part of the county. He also said city impact fees from development in the region would be targeted to help roads and other infrastructure elements that are affected by growth.

In the county, fees go into a larger pot and are used county-wide.

“Impact fees will stay in our area to fix our problems,” Swatman said.

Board president and former Bonney Lake Mayor Rex Pulfrey said he invited Johnson and Swatman to give residents a chance to get a new perspective on annexation.

“I thought maybe if they heard it from someone else,” Pulfrey said.

In the end, Pulfrey said he was glad the mayor and deputy mayor attended.

“I was happy,” he said. “I didn’t hear any unhappy remarks about annexation.”

After the meeting, resident Les Farrish said he was glad he attended and said the annexation might be a way to get a little more attention on some of the crime problems that plague their community by being able to call local police instead of having to wait for a sheriff.

“I liked listening to the mayor,” Farrish said. “He made sense.”