MOUNTLAKE TERRACE—Dr Steve Woodard was unanimously voted, by the council, to serve as the Mayor of Mountlake Terrace – a privilege he said he is extremely “humbled” by. As such, his ultimate vision for the city, he added, is one shared by the council at large – a vision that has been a collaboration between all council members over the last six years he’s served.
Fiscal sustainability remains at the forefront of this vision, along with “sacrifice,” and maintaining Mountlake Terrace as a “destination city.”
“We’ve made a concerted effort to make sure our residents know how to look in and get the information they want, but more importantly how to get that information out,” said Dr. Woodard. “If we can get a community ambassador program that would be outstanding – it’s just a different way of getting our community engaged.”
As for maintaining Mountlake Terrace as a “destination city,” Dr. Woodard added that the Link light rail extension to Lynnwood (with stops in Mountlake Terrace) has really opened the city up to visitors, and residents alike, coming to and from. With FIFA World Cup 2026 taking place in Seattle this year, it only adds to Mountlake Terrace’s appeal as “the gateway into Snohomish County.”
“It’s our opportunity to really show how beautiful Snohomish County really is because we’re a wonderful blend of nature and built environment,” said Dr. Woodard. “As visitors come in, I hope they don’t just get stuck in downtown Seattle. I hope they come north.”
The City of Mountlake Terrace is unique in that it uses a Council-Mayor model, in conjunction with a professional City Administrator staff member, unlike most cities where the Mayor serves as an executive decision-maker. Other cities in Snohomish County that use this model include Mill Creek, Granite Falls, and Bothell.
What’s also unique is that Mountlake Terrace is one of the few cities in Snohomish County (the county, itself, included) that is not diving into 2026 with a budget deficit. Mountlake Terrace is still projecting a $4.2 million shortfall through 2030 (due to expenditure rates increasing nearly 4% annually while revenues are only increasing 0.8%), but it has a stockpile of reserves ready to offset that blow and has been proactive in preparing for that shortfall well ahead of its arrival, through its Fiscal Sustainability Taskforce and community-led Town Halls, for example.
Dr. Woodard spoke on this approach to city operations as the City Administrator being the “head” and the City Council and Mayor forming the “heart” of its operations. As an elected Mayor, to Dr. Woodard, “you have to be both of those things.”
“You won’t find many cities the size of Mountlake Terrace that are full-service cities. It’s a very complex operation,” said Dr. Woodard. “That said, I’m very happy with our approach. We’re four square miles and I don’t think I would get into politics if it was a bigger city. In just four square miles you feel connected to it. What got me involved is recognizing I’m putting in money and I can see it a block away, whether it’s in front of my house or a block away.”
One of Dr. Woodard’s favorite thing about being in politics, he added, is he’s “always thinking in decades, he’s not just thinking about tomorrow.” He applauded the city’s Events Coordinator for all the great work they do making sure the community “remains a community.”
With Mountlake Terrace being largely a “bedroom community,” and a large part of its tax revenue coming from property tax, Dr. Woodard said that the topic of maintaining the city’s affordability is on the forefront of the entire council’s mind, using the example of its rezoning of Town Center six years ago as an example of densifying controlled parts of the city which allows more suburban areas untouched, as far as developments go.
This, Dr. Woodard added, is what he means by “sacrifice.” One of the first “big votes” – in terms of how it felt on his heart – was voting “himself out of his home,” when he voted in favor to rezone the area where he lives.
“We are a model for the state in how we rezoned our Town Center,” said Dr. Woodard. “All of this is to ensure we don’t lose Mountlake Terrace, especially for those who grew up here. But at the end of the day the region is changing, and we need to keep up with that. With that, though, is we have a wonderful use of funds where we’re doing everything we can to bring the community in and ask what’s important to them, to make sure we give our residents the chance to input instead of leaving the decisions to the council because they elected us.”
Regarding public safety, Mountlake Terrace’s crime rates (specifically violent crime) is relatively low compared to other Snohomish County cities but crimes against property remains an ongoing issue.
To Dr. Woodard, supporting law enforcement means different things to different cities but to him partnerships remain paramount to a healthy public safety sector, especially in terms of continuing Social Work alongside police officers to handle behavioral health crises, for example, in other ways that does not necessarily result in incarceration.
Unfortunately, Dr. Woodard added, funding is in issue – not only in Mountlake Terrace, but the region at large. His hope for bolstering Mountlake Terrace’s public safety sector in general would be to continue being proactive in working with regional partners in order to figure out how the city could support social workers moving forward.
Dr. Woodard lives by, what he calls a “five prong life:” Get involved, always keep your head up, teamwork makes the dream work, dream bigger, and protect your joy.
In addition to being Mountlake Terrace’s new Mayor Dr. Steve Woodard serves as Vice President of Community Engagement for Volunteers of America Western Washington and sits on a variety of boards including Snohomish County Tomorrow, the Finance Committee, the disability board, the Lake Ballinger Watershed Forum, and the Seashore Transportation Forum.
Author: Kienan Briscoe
One Response
His comments about public safety is just a soft way of saying he wants to defund the police. His stance on wanting to partner with social workers is a waste of time, money and resources. Social workers don’t do jack during behavioral crises incidents. It’s always the police officers that attempt to de-escalate the situation. The only thing a social worker does while being embedded to the police is trying to locate the homeless and offering them resources.
The MLT council is going to get a rude awakening when the police officers leave to other agencies because of their asinine stances on police issues.