Friday, March 29, 2024

Council selects Jason Lundgren fill open council seat

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They say, third time is the charm, but for Jason Lundgren, it would appear the fourth time is the charm. After three tries to get on the Leavenworth City Council, Lundgren was, at long last, selected on Jan. 16 to fill the open seat on the council, left vacant by Gretchen Wearne.
Lundgren applied for an open seat a couple years ago. It came down to a tie between him and Rich Brinkman. The Mayor broke the tie by choosing Brinkman. Lundgren applied for another opening, and appeared to be the favorite, but he did not turn in his paperwork in time and was disqualified.
Last year he ran for council, but lost to incumbent Carolyn Wilson. Vying for the seat this time was, along with Lundgren, former councilmen Larry Meyer and Carl Florea. All three interviewed well and seemed to develop a rapport with the council.
After the interviews, the council first voted for their top two candidates. In that first vote, Lundgren received six votes, Florea four votes and Meyer two votes, so Meyer was eliminated. In the final vote, Lundgren received five votes and Florea just one.
“I’m really happy I got another opportunity. It was something I’ve wanted to do for a couple years. The more I thought about, the more I’ve talked to people, I wanted to participate in the city council and be part of the city government. I’m just humbled and appreciative of the opportunity the council has given me,” Lundgren said. Going through the process again, Lundgren said it was exciting and little bit familiar. He did feel comfortable speaking to the council and was excited to have another run at it.
“I don’t know Carl or Larry personally but I read their applications and it looked like they were strong candidates. I didn’t have any ideas of my chances. I didn’t assume anything going into it,” Lundgren said.
Lundgren said he’s excited and feels like he’s been given a great opportunity.
“I want to do my best. Listen and learn. There is a lot of history there that I don’t have. A lot of committees and a lot of moving parts. I’m going to be doing a lot of listening and asking questions, trying to get up to speed so I can participate in a meaningful way,” Lundgren said. “I’m excited to get to know the city much more intimately because that will ultimately help me make informed decisions.”
Lundgren, 42, is married with three daughters, ages 6 - 9.
Here is a transcript of his interview with the city council:
Councilwoman Carolyn Wilson: Discuss your interest in serving on the city council:
Jason Lundgren: I first considered running for the city council about 2.5 years ago when Mia, Margaret and Gretchen were running. It seemed like an overwhelming idea to get involved with the city government since I was relatively new here.
I did spend a couple days campaigning. We had several meetings leading up to their run and picked some our community’s leaders brains and had some good dialog about some of the issues that were pressing at the time. That was my first consideration.
I’ve applied for a couple open seats now. My interest is unwavering in being on the city council. I think I would be a great conduit into the community. I believe my professional experience will lend very well to this kind of decision making body.
I’ve been considering this for about 2.5 years seriously and this will be my fourth attempt. Let the recored show.
Councilwoman Mia Bretz: What do you perceive as the three most important things facing the city of Leavenworth right now? What is your vision for the city in five to 20 years?:
Lundgren: Through my campaign, speaking with and listening to people, trying gather as much information from the community as I can, I don’t know if it is a new problem, but there definitely is tension between festival weekends and everyday life here.
I think everybody knows our business community is thriving. Our tourist community is thriving. That’s wonderful and we reap benefits from that, but I think it is something that we will have be monitoring and adaptively managing, making sure we’re addressing growth in a reasonable way.
Growth not only in tourism, but also growth in the popularity of our town, people wanting to live here and make this their home. I think a lot of growing is not bad. It is just change. I think growth and tourism is one big subject that can be broken down.
Some of the things that fall under that is things like affordable housing, because this is such a desirable place. We have very limited private land base in Chelan County. I think it is a little more that 10 percent is private land. I think we’re pretty hemmed in by public lands and there is limited room for development.
Growth, affordable housing and parking. I just think just meshing and blending people’s interests when it comes to making a living downtown off tourism and making a living with a family here raising children, going to schools...finding that balance is the underlying theme.
Thinking out ahead, I’ve never heard anyone suggest getting rid of the theme town, getting rid of the festivals. It’s more of asking ourselves, how much growth is sustainable for us? Whether it is natural resources or physical land base, there is a limit.
We are probably hitting some thresholds when it comes to traffic densities. I see us as more, more, more is good. More tourists, more visitors, more money. That is good for a lot of people, but we really have to ask ourselves at some point, when do we start making some changes and looking out further than this festival season, looking out five and 10 years .
Maybe we bring people in on buses. Maybe we limit the tour buses that come into town. I live two blocks from here and between car alarms and diesel buses running their engines for three hours, there’s just things that people that don’t live in town don’t understand.
There are privacy issues. When you have people pulling up in front of your house and unloading their family and leaving dirty diapers on your lawn. There are things we deal with that I take very seriously. I want to find solutions so that we can grow and continue to be a tourism town, but also reflect the values of the residents.
I think the city has done a good job listening to the concerns. I want to diversify Leavenworth, if I had the power. Luckily you are working with a group of people, so it is not one person. I think when it comes to our outdoors, our aesthetic beauty, our outdoor recreation values that we have outside the city limits, I think we need to embrace those.
I think we need to diversify a little bit. I think we should start putting more energy into clubs. I think we should hold up outdoor recreation for not only the children but the visitors. Every other car that comes into this town has a bike or ski rack on it.
I think that is great. Those are kinds of tourists that come into town that represents a lot of locals values. They love the outdoors and practice “leave no trace” in their spare time. They come back over and over. They are not necessarily the ones that come into town and buy and burn things on the sidewalk.
I see a little different ethic with the outdoor community. I want us to embrace our outdoors because it is part of the Bavarian theme. I want us to reflect those values that we care about the place that we live in.
Thinking out ahead, we need to embrace what we have but also diversify our business portfolio a bit. That can be done in a way that benefits locals as well as visitors.
Councilman Elmer Larsen: What are your thoughts related to residential and multifamily housing in Leavenworth? What improvements, if any, would you suggest?:
Lundgren: I believe the changes that have been adopted are responsible. I think it is a good compromise. My wife and I have talked a lot about building an ADU (accessory dwelling unit) and renting one of our rooms or something like that to make it more affordable here. I think the city has taken responsible steps to make sure our neighborhoods don’t turn into nightly rentals.
We go down and visit family in Bend (Oregon.) Nightly rentals are prolific and that would really bother me. I have a hard time bonding with the neighbors next to me because I have new tenants every year or 18 months.
I think the city is doing a lot. I think enforcing the nightly rentals is really important. I think there should be acceptance for people that have a primary residence and want to have renters and tenants. I think that is okay.
So I think the city has done a good job taking the public’s input into consideration. I think there is a good compromise there. I don’t have any radical suggestions. I think we’re finding that middle ground and trying not to take the rights away from homeowners.
Councilwoman Margaret Neighbors: What is the toughest group you’ve had to lead? What were the obstacles? How did you handle the situation?
JL: In my career, I do stream and habitat restoration. I moved to this community in 2010 and was invited to participate in a project up by Lake Wenatchee. We went out and got grant money and started working with the community to do this one project.
A lot of people were opposed to it. The most challenging group was a group of local residents around Lake Wenatchee that really didn’t agree with what we were doing or why were doing it.
That was a learning experience. It was definitely humbling. I had to step back and reevaluate where I was coming from and questioned what we were trying to do and weigh the costs of that.
Councilwoman Sharon Waters: All cities face fiscal challenges. How would you address balancing the budget in consideration of the various alternatives and trade offs?:
Lundgren: From looking at the budget a couple times, we’re doing quite well as a city financially. We’re much better off than most cities our size in Washington, I would think. When it comes to balancing a budget, it is about reflecting the priorities.
I know, for our city, we have major infrastructure, capital projects on the docket that have to be done when it comes to water and wastewater. You put down the absolutes that have to be done, whether it is maintaining staff and maintaining infrastructure that we currently own and looking at the extra things that are proposed.
I know we have a strategic plan and capital improvement list. I know residents like myself make expensive requests. We have a lot of ideas for a community center, skate park or other things. I think those would be fun challenges working on the city council. Listening to the ideas out there, trying to get input, so you can filter out the most important things for the city. I think infrastructure is number one. I think making sure that we have grants, the revenue, the loans to pay for those things is number one.
Councilman Clint Strand: What is your background in community service and what volunteer work have you done for the city of Leavenworth? Discuss your prior experience working with civic, community or governmental organizations:
Lundgren: I volunteered for the boys and girls club when I lived in Mount Vernon. The last seven or eight years here, I volunteered with the Wenatchee River Institute. I’m on my second year with Trout Unlimited. I haven’t volunteered with the city, but I have volunteered with some of the groups here.
Mostly for environmental education and environmental stewardship, those have been my free time activities in ways I feel I can give back.
Mayor Cheri Kelley Farivar: Do you feel you have any potential conflicts of interest that may arise if you are appointed to Leavenworth City Council? Have you considered the time and energy commitment to serve on Leavenworth City Council. Will this cause any conflict with your job and family responsibilities?:
Lundgren: I can’t foresee a potential conflict of interest with my existing career. Yes, it will be very difficult to juggle my family and my job. If I am fortunate enough to be appointed to city council, it will be a challenge.
I do have leave that I will use on city council that one or two days a month. I know I can do it. I will be giving up some free time. My job is pretty flexible. I’ve spoken to my board of directors. They want me to be careful and not overcommit, but they are okay with it.
I’ve talked to my wife at length the past couple years. She is supportive. It’s dividing up very little of myself. I will totally apply myself.
After the election, I stopped going to the city council meetings. I thought that was in the rearview mirror. I’m excited with the prospect of serving with you. I enjoy consensus building, listening and talking to people. I think I’m pretty good at working with people.
Ian Dunn can be reached at 548-5286 or editor@leavenworthecho.com.

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