M’ville comes out with big wins in legislature

MARYSVILLE – You would have thought Marysville won the NFC Championship.

Elected and city officials were all smiles Monday at the council meeting talking about what the city received from the state Capital Projects budget.

State legislators went home last year without passing that budget. Despite that delay of game Marysville was on the receiving end of some big money.

The biggest score was $4.75 million for a Stormwater Treatment Plant at the old Welco Lumber site south of the Marysville mall. Chief Administrative Officer Gloria Hirashima said Wednesday that project will help with environmental cleanup of Ebey Slough and also help with downtown revitalization.

Also in that area, the city received $250,000 to beautify Cedar Street from First to Fourth to make it look like the improved Third Street to the east.

The city also received $1 million for more construction of the Ebey Waterfront Trail. This new section will be just off Sunnyside Boulevard on farmland so bicyclists and walkers eventually can connect with the Harborview Trail.

Also in that area, $500,000 was received for the new Olympic View Park, which will be on the hillside above the Harborview Trail. A conservation group also received a $240,000 grant that will help the city. That money will go toward riparian restoration to the creeks at Jennings Park.

Regarding the state’s Capital Budget, Hirashima said Monday: “It’s an amazing fund. It’s really going to move Marysville forward. It’s meeting a lot of needs.”

Regarding this year’s requests, Mayor Jon Nehring listed $1 million each for planning money for overcrossings at the railroad tracks at Grove Street, along with 156th Street. Another $500,000 is being sought for Ebey Waterfront Trail project.

Other priorities include the Arlington-Marysville Manufacturing Industrial Center, public safety building, and homelessness, mental health and opioid addiction.

At the meeting the council approved $1 per capita for the Snohomish Health District, but with some stipulations. Council President Kamille Norton said that district has been talking about a needle exchange program. “I’m not comfortable funding that with our Marysville tax dollars,” she said, adding she’d rather use that money for other programs the city has to help drug addicts.

She recommended the city pay the district quarterly, just in case it decides to go to the needle program.

Hirashima said the district again asked for $2 a person, but like last year the city decided on $1. After Hirashima read a list of what other cities are paying, Councilman Rob Toyer brought up possibly $1.25 per capita. Other cities pay from 50 cents in Gold Bar to almost $2 in Snohomish.

The council approved almost $700,000 for design of the Marysville-Arlington Manufacturing Industrial Center. That’s an important part of the process because when that 30 percent of the project is designed, officials can work on permit approval from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Their permit process can take up to two years.

“That’s an important part of our economic development plan out there,” Nehring said of the MIC.

Two new police officers were sworn in, Dylan Burnett and Garrett Wiseman, who graduated from the state police academy last week and now begin 15 weeks of field training. Wiseman was raised in Arlington and Burnett in Monroe.

“Marysville attracts some really great people,” Chief Rick Smith said.

Nehring said another one of the city’s legislative goals is to get more police academy trainers.

“We have to wait a long time to get into the police academy,” he said. “We need to get officers in there quicker.

In other council news:

•Planning director Dave Koenig said, “This is the year of the single-family home in Marysville.” He said the city is seeing the results of some code changes made by the council last year. He said nine plats with 391 lots are in the works.

•The city is going to borrow money from itself at the interest rate of .9 percent to purchase the Opera House.The city will borrow almost $1.5 million from a Solid Waste Management Fund. Opera House rental income will repay the loan.

•Council Member Jeff Vaughan paid tribute to former Gov. John Spellman, who died recently. Spellman, who served from 1980-84, interviewed Vaughan to be on a nonprofit board. Vaughan called him a statesman who stood up for what he believed in, even if it cost him votes. Vaughan said Spellman basically saved the nonprofit years ago from collapse.

•Parks director Jim Ballew said the Father-Daughter dances are sold out, the diversity committee is coming up with a new campaign and that a policy for naming structures is being formed.

•The council OK’s close-out of the Marshall Elementary Safe Routes to School project. “The corridor looks nice, and it’s improved student safety,” Public Works director Kevin Nielsen said.

•Former councilwoman Donna Wright was named to the salary commission.