Olympia tested city manager Steve Hall’s mettle, but he carried on

To some, retiring Olympia City Manager Steve Hall may represent the “deep state” – those unelected officials who wield their power out of public view, and are therefore assumed to be up to no good.

But Steve Hall, in his nearly 30 years working for the city, the last 16 as city manager, has in fact been up to a lot of good. As council members and mayors have come and gone during his tenure, he’s been the non-political ballast that kept the ship of city upright, even in stormy weather.

He has been a respected leader of the city’s staff. He’s been responsive to city council policy decisions, and deft at guiding them toward policies that will be effective in achieving their goals. He has calmly borne many slings and arrows, and achieved a great deal that he will never get credit for.

For the last few years his job has been particularly difficult, as Olympia, like many other cities, found itself on the front lines of combating homelessness. In 2016, it caused overflowing passions and total lapses in civility when demonstrators disrupted city council meetings and threatened city leaders. That didn’t help solve the problem, but it certainly tested Hall’s mettle.

Even now, the city’s Home Fund – a $2.3 million-a-year housing fund financed by a small sales tax increase – will not be anywhere near enough to resolve the persistent shortage of affordable housing, or to create the mental health, addiction treatment, or social service systems the city needs.

In fact, if Hall was initially hesitant to have the city take responsibility for solving the problem of homelessness, it was because he foresaw the impossibility of success. He knew that no matter how robust the city’s response to homelessness, no one would be satisfied.

And he could see that no matter how carefully the city tried to balance accommodating people who are destitute with protecting downtown businesses and the environment, no one would be satisfied with those efforts either.

At the same time, he could see that in a humanitarian emergency, anything less than an all-hands-on-deck effort was not an option. Tackling homelessness has meant Hall has lived with constant, unrelenting criticism from all sides for the past several years.

Nonetheless, he persisted.

The average tenure of a city manager is not quite half of Hall’s 16 years. Most burn out, are pushed out, or move up to a bigger city with more pay. Olympia was very fortunate to have Steve Hall’s decency, stability and integrity for as long as it did. Thanks, Steve.

Thurston County needs you

Thurston County is having a hard time finding applicants for several citizen boards and commissions.

One is the Timberland Regional Library Board of Trustees, which governs a system that is cruising towards a funding crisis, and may need some from-the-ground-up rethinking of its five-county governance structure.

There also are four vacancies on the Historic Commission, and openings on several others as well.

If you want to make a difference in your community, consider serving. You’ll find more information on the Thurston County website.

So does the City of Olympia

Local cities have a stake in getting more citizens involved. The city of Olympia, for instance, has quite a few openings they’re struggling to fill.

Kellie Purce-Braseth, the city’s strategic communications director, has a substantial list of board and commission vacancies. They include the Arts Commission, the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee, the Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee, the Planning Commission and perhaps the wonkiest of all, the Utilities Advisory Committee.

But, she says, “a few committees could use some extra love. I’m thinking particularly of the Design Review Board (four vacancies and one application) and the Heritage Commission (three vacancies and one application). They both do important work for the city.”

Volunteering for one of these bodies will not make you rich or famous, but it might help solve a thorny local problem or two.

Your participation certainly would strengthen the fabric of citizen-driven democracy. Active citizen engagement at the local level is a kind of safe-keeping storehouse for the democratic ideals and practices that we all hope to one day restore to our national political culture.