Sullivan says two prime examples are how the city handled Walmart’s bid to put a store there and limitations on warehouses.
“It didn’t accomplish anything,” Sullivan said of the city’s emergency moratorium that didn’t stop the store from coming. “It was a lose-lose for everybody.”
Cathey said Walmart was an issue before she was on the council but that she would have voted against the store coming to Tumwater. She said the number of residents who came out against the store showed that they didn’t want another box store and that the issue was not just a political football.
“They wanted to come up with something else,” Cathey said.
The two candidates also disagree on the city’s handling of warehouse size limits.
Sullivan said she is against the 200,000-square-foot limit, saying it kept the city out of the discussion for the Trader Joe’s warehouse being built in Lacey. She said the proposed site for Harbor Wholesale on Port of Olympia property was zoned light industrial, pointing to warehouses at Mottman Industrial Park and how residents live alongside the businesses.
“We keep stopping things as opposed to encouraging things,” she said. “We’re losing a lot of potential businesses and current businesses to Lacey.”
Cathey sees the issue not as an attack on business, but on making sure the city’s goals and values line up with development.
She said the proposed warehouse would have placed it against a neighborhood and a school, with traffic creating pollution and the site threatening critical environmental areas.
“It wasn’t just about picking a spot and saying we’re not going to have big businesses,” she said. “Maybe (just) not there, and maybe not so big.”
OTHER ISSUES
Sullivan sees the major issues facing the city as public safety, economic development and fiscal responsibility.
While the tax increases for public-safety improvement were necessary, she said, she still thinks the city is behind the times and that current funding is only a stop-gap for services.
She’s also frustrated with what she perceives as the city’s golf course taking priority over public safety, saying that a majority of the capital facilities budget goes to paying off debt on the course. She’s also unhappy with cost overruns of the course’s restaurant.
If elected, Sullivan would like to see the city be more transparent with its finances and make it easier for people to see where consent-item spending is going. She also said her time on the planning commission gives her the experience necessary to deal with city issues, including the proposed updates to the shoreline master program.
One issue Sullivan sees in the city is that its population decreases rapidly after the workday ends.
“We need to have people work and live in Tumwater and not just be a bedroom community that employs state workers,” she said. That’s accomplished by economic development and making sure the community vision is balanced, she said.
Cathey said she has distinguished herself as someone who researches decisions and does what’s best for Tumwater residents. She points to the city’s manufactured-home ordinance, which protects vulnerable residents; her push against increasing utility taxes; and her support of the city’s levy for public safety.
“I’m not afraid to be a strong voice and an advocate for the things we need,” she said.
And while her time on the budget committee doesn’t leave her thinking that budget and economic worries are leaving anytime soon, that shouldn’t loom over the city to the point of not moving forward, she said.
“This is Tumwater’s opportunity to pose herself for the future,” she said, adding that realistic expectations must be coupled with moving ahead with projects.
She points to the need to develop the brewery project with mixed-use opportunities and keeping the community involved in the decisions made on the historic property.
The campaign hasn’t come without some jabs from Sullivan about Cathey’s determination. Sullivan said that Cathey doesn’t have a good attendance record and that she was removed from the Intercity Transit board.
Cathey disagrees with both claims.
Cathey said that during her four years on the council, she has a 90 percent attendance rate and that she voluntarily was asked to be taken off the IT board after it conflicted with her schedule running a nonprofit.
Sullivan also has taken exception to what she perceives as Cathey not knowing all of the issues.
“I think, being on the planning commission, I know a lot of the issues,” she said, pointing to the shoreline master program as an example.
Cathey maintains that it’s the City Council that makes the tough decisions and that while she respects the planning commission and its hard work, it generates recommendations.
“I’m the one making the decisions that impact the daily lives of the citizens of Tumwater,” she said.
DEBBIE SULLIVAN
Age: 57.
Occupation: Energy program analyst, Washington State University Extension Energy Office.
Political experience: Tumwater Planning Commission, 2003-present.
Education: Some college.
Contact information: 360-561-5248, debbie@sullivan4tumwatercc.com, www.sullivan4tumwatercc.com.
Campaign contributions: $2,605.
Top contributors: The Affordable Housing Council, $500; International Association of Fire Fighters Local 2409, $400; Sheriff John Snaza, $300.
JOAN CATHEY
Age: 67.
Occupation: Presbyterian minister.
Political experience: Tumwater City Council, 2008-present; former school board member in California.
Education: Master’s degree, psychology, divine philosophical theology and doctoral studies in environmental spirituality and ethics.
Contact information: joancathey@yahoo.com, www.joancathey.com.
Campaign contributions: $10,059.70.
Top contributors: Thurston County Democratic Central Committee, $800; Washington Association of Realtors, $800, WFSE Local 433, $800.
Nate Hulings: 360-754-5476
nhulings@theolympian.com
www.theolympian.com/outsideoly
