The following has been written by Sumner Mayor Dave Enslow:

No, the popular TV show has not worked its way through all the major cities and reached Sumner (although that would be an interesting idea). This just seemed a fitting heading for another great staff partnership that happened last week.

Andrea Marquez, our prosecutor and new deputy city attorney, spent her Friday night riding with Officer Sullivan during the regional DUI St Patrick’s Day emphasis patrol. It was part of a collaborative DUI patrol, so they were actually working in the Puyallup area as part of a multi-agency effort. She wanted to understand what officers face on their end, especially how they detect, test, and process impaired drivers. She did this to better understand what the officers do, so that she could do her job even better.

We have a lot of staff who are not only excellent at their jobs, but want to continue to learn as well as know the big picture and how their role fits into it. When John Galle transitioned from police chief to city administrator, he asked to crawl down a manhole so that he understood what our Public Works Shops crew were facing (literally) when they work on the sewer system.

There are plenty of people in the world who unfortunately define their job as narrowly as possible. “Not my job” becomes an all-too common phrase. I’m so thankful that we’re being served by over 100 people like Andrea who continually go above and beyond to support our community. Thank you Andrea for taking a Friday night to truly understand your coworkers’ job. And thank you to Officer Sullivan for taking on a passenger on a busy night. Thank you to our neighboring cities for participating with us in collaborative emphasis patrols. Individually, we do great things, but together, we’re really strong.