SNOHOMISH—Linda Redmon, current Snohomish Mayor, will be defending her seat this upcoming Mayoral election on August 5. If elected for a second term, she pledges another four years of transparency, protecting her City’s small businesses, and preparing the City of Snohomish for the future without compromising its small-town charm.
Redmon’s number one priority is stability for the City of Snohomish, as federal spending cuts continue to affect city-wide programs, and county-wide programs at large. Her focus is to “keep the city on an even keel” while continue to provide the services community members expect and improving them where she can while being mindful of spending.
Inclusivity also continues to be one of Redmon’s priorities to allow opportunities for a vast array of different people. As Mayor she launched the MAGIC (Mayor’s Advisory Group for an Inclusive Community), which has since been placed on hold to reallocate resources. Still, Redmon informed the Lynnwood Times she plans to continue fostering a sense of welcoming within the City of Snohomish, for anyone and everyone.
As far as public safety, Redmon has made it a priority to fully fund the Snohomish Police Department, ensuring they have both the equipment and training they need. In the last two years she leveraged American Rescue Plan Act funds to set the force up for success while implementing a Community Services Officer who handles more dedicated care for the community while exploring alternative solutions to jail time.
Snohomish is also planning on installing new flock, license plate recognition, cameras to monitor pursued suspects entering, or exiting, city lines. These can also be used in domestic violence situations when a perpetrator is approaching.
Redmon plans to maintain transparency and open communication with residents to ensure their best wishes are being met. During her tenure as Mayor, she implemented an online budget tool where residents can see a breakdown of city spending to know exactly where, and how, their tax dollars are being spent.
For her second term, Redmon hopes to expand this service to include large city projects, such as capital projects, to explain what it is, where it will be located, how much was budgeted for it, how much has been spent so far and what’s still needed to be spent, and what the timeline is.
With the help of the new City Clerk Melissa Collins, Redmon also plans to digitize the City of Snohomish’s public records for ease of access. With this new system popular records requests will be made public so that those requesting similar information can search the records database, before making a records request, to streamline the process.
The City of Snohomish currently has its hands full with two massive projects, one the First Street infrastructure project which will replace aging (some as old as 100-years) piping under the downtown core, and the other the Civic Center Campus.
According to Redmon the infrastructure below First Street has long outlived its lifespan so this is a much-needed project to avoid sewage spilling into the river, or a big sink hole that could jeopardize businesses. Once that’s done, Redmon said it also gives the city the opportunity to rebuild the street, adding ADA-compliant sidewalks, for example, as well as offering more parking and gathering spaces for pedestrians.
While these projects continue to be a priority of Redmon’s if elected for a second term, she understands that there’s a legacy, and history, of Snohomish that needs to be preserved.
“We understand there’s a legacy of First Street, that is the identity of this town,” said Redmon. “So we want to protect that. The reason why we want to preserve the pipes is to preserve the history. People value, and come to this, town because of that history – the charm.”
Redmon, if elected, plans to hold a series of community outreach with residents to hear exactly what they want to see with the First Street Master plan, from outdoor cafés to seating areas that will make witnessing parades and outdoor events more accessible.
As far as the Civic Center, Redmon explained that this project will consolidate city services (Police, Public Works, Fire, etc.) to more efficiently utilize taxpayers’ money.
The City, under Redmon’s leadership, as utilized its state and federal partners on both fronts to garner support – securing $1 million from the state legislature which, given a tight budget year, she is extremely grateful for. She plans to continue to work with law makers to secure additional funding in the future to alleviate constraints on the City’s, approximately $116 million budget, and by extension taxpayers.
Through the City of Snohomish’, more than, 200-page Comprehensive Plan Redmon, as well as City Staff, have committed to preserving Snohomish’s small-town, historic, charm even through its major projects.
“Snohomish is a small town, it will always be a small town, and we love that, and we want to preserve that,” said Redmon. “But how do we do that without not ignoring that there are members of our community that need more affordable housing? How do we prepare for workforce housing? It’s not getting big city traffic but it’s allowing people to live and work in the same town.”
As far as growth, while Snohomish County continues to be one of the fastest growing counties in Washington State with an estimated population reaching nearly 1 million by 2040, according to Executive Dave Somer’s Office, Redmon said the City of Snohomish’ role in preparing for that growth will primarily be traffic and pedestrian improvements.
Redmon has worked with Economic Development to attract new businesses to the city over the last year. She will continue to work with local business owners to ensure they have the support they need, she said.
Through Redmon’s tenure as Mayor, the thing she’s most proud of is having a balanced budget supported by a recent financial audit.
“I feel really proud of our stewardship of taxpayers’ dollars because we are making sure that things are done correctly,” said Redmon.
Her second biggest accomplishment is not shying away from big projects.
“We may not be growing super-fast but we are continuing to live in this space and these things need to happen eventually,” said Redmon. “I’m really glad that we decided to be courageous and decided to go ahead and tackle them while asking what we can do to address the risks that not addressing these things brings. I think we’ve been very thoughtful about it, we’ve been really careful, we’ve balanced the risks versus the benefits and made the rights decisions to be proactive and not wait until something breaks.”
Redmon added that she has appreciated all of the community members who have approached the City with event ideas over the years.
When Redmon isn’t spending 60+ hours a week running the City of Snohomish or helping her husband’s Psychotherapy business as bookkeeper, she enjoys spending time with her family. She is a mother of two including a son who just finished an auto mechanic apprenticeship and a daughter who is entering the ministry and becoming a teacher this fall. Before she became Mayor of Snohomish in 2021, which she said is really a 24/7 job she enjoyed getting involved in community.
“I really enjoy doing this work. It’s really fulfilling. Other than raising my two kids it’s really the most important work I’ve ever done, and I consider it a great honor and privilege,” said Redmon.
Her favorite thing about the City of Snohomish is the “sense of place,” she added.
“It’s so welcoming, so charming, and so cute. It is the dream place when people say imagine a small town in America, that’s Snohomish,” said Redmon.
Redmon encourages voters to consider her this upcoming election because she’s demonstrated to residents how to do the job the way the community wants but also followed through with proven results.
Author: Kienan Briscoe
