Newcomer Jason Lundgren challenges incumbent Carolyn Wilson for city council

The race for Leavenworth City Council position 4 pits challenger Jason Lundgren versus incumbent Carolyn Wilson. Wilson has been part of the council for 10 years, from 2002-2006 and from 2011 to present. 

The reason Wilson wants to run again is there are some goals she would like to see come to fruition. 

“I’m going to keep pushing for locals to have parking passes. I don’t want that to die. A huge thing with me is workforce housing. I know we’ve talked about that a lot as a council. I don’t want to see that go by the wayside,” Wilson said. “A kayak company wanted to come here, but that fell apart. I would like to see a small employer come in and do something relative to the area and hire 30-40 people.”

Wilson, 67, said she enjoys council and wants to be involved in the community. Plus, she has the time for it. One of the initiatives she pushed for was having the council recognize accomplished high school teams and athletes. 

“I asked if we could do the plaques. We started with the sports teams. I got that going, doing plaques for the winning athletic teams. I would like to expand that to the music and drama programs,” Wilson said. 

Wilson said she felt like she provided some good input on the negotiations on the sheriff contract, because her law enforcement background. She would like to see the city start it’s own police department. 

The overnight rental issue was important to her. 

“The overnight rentals bugged me for two years. There were some of us who pushed and pushed it. Everyone was concerned, but three or four of us were very concerned. I wanted to keep our neighborhoods, neighborhoods. I feel good about always pushing that,” Wilson said. 

In terms of the parking issues in town, she is glad this city is conducting a parking study. 

“We do need more parking. To pay a consultant, I am frugal, but I think this is good. We have to get those stats and do something like double-decker parking. We have to for this town,” Wilson said. “I would love to annex a piece of property and put a double decker parking area. Also, lower warehouse parking lot is perfect for a double decker. I’m very curious to see the results. They could come back and say you could use parking but it’s not that essential.”

Wilson has been involved with planning for the upgrades at the wastewater treatment plant. She keeps a close on the possible impact to rates. 

“Those rates, by law, have to take care of themselves. Some people don’t understand that. If we have to hike something up, it’s because we have to replace water lines or some other capital project to make your utilities function,” Wilson said. “The money that comes in has to go those projects and sometimes we have to raise the rates. I’m not raising them until I see the figures. I try to tell people, it’s not about getting more money. It’s strictly about a utility.”

A bypass around town using Pine Street is something she looking at. She wants to be transparent and approachable. 

“Locals will tell me, they’ve emailed all seven of us and only two replied. If you are going to have this job, you need to reply to the citizens. We need to be very transparent about what we’re doing,” Wilson said. “It’s difficult to step into an elected position. There’s so many laws you have to follow, mandated ways to run the meetings. With 10 years experience, I can hit the ground running without a lot of learning curve. I think that is essential. I have the time to do it.”

Jason Ludgren, 42, has lived in Leavenworth for eight years. He’s the director of a non-profit that does salmon and steelhead restoration. He works in Leavenworth and Wenatchee. 

He previously applied for an open seat. It came down to a tie between Rich Brinkman and himself. The mayor broke the tie by choosing Brinkman. He applied for an open seat a second time, but was disqualified when he forgot to turn in his assignment. 

Now, he’s trying to get a council seat by running for office. 

“It is a wonderful way to make a difference in this community. I’m raising a family here. I plan on being here for the long haul, and I think working for the city council is just wonderful way to impact and improve the quality of life here,” Lundgren said. 

Lundgren said he’s been gathering information from residents, mostly centering around the affordability of living here. He hears about affordability not just in terms of housing. 

“We want residents to live here year round. We want residents to go downtown, to the grocery store. Residents build communities. This community is amazing. Affordable living is on everyone’s minds, from elderly, fixed income people to 20-something people trying to make Leavenworth their home. The city has an influence that they can exert,” Lundgren said. 

Lundgren wants to have safe and well maintained streets. He’s also a big proponent of recreation. 

“I want to look at ways to support outdoor recreation so that we’re efficient and can leverage funding, because I think that is a growing sector of our economy and tourism base. It’s sustainable. 

People that recreate on the weekend with their toys, they spend money, they stay to play,” Lundgren said. 

He does support the regulation of overnight rentals in town. 

“I think that is one way we can limit people purchases second homes for business, because that takes homes out of the inventory that want to live here full time,” Lundgren said. “I think the city has made positive strides in that way. I think they are on a good trajectory. It’s possible the city can exert their influence to support affordable housing development. Rates are a tough one. Supporting affordable housing and affordable services is important to people here.”

Lundgren thinks the city needs to look very carefully at the parking. He feels the highest and best use of property downtown may not be parking. He wants to wait and see the results of the recent parking study. 

“I think we can improve off site parking with better biking and walking routes to work so that we can encourage our local residents to keep their cars at home,” Lundgren said. “We need a more affordable living situation here, so people don’t have to commute from Peshastin or up Blewett or the Chumstick. I don’t know if a parking garage is a good long term solution financially for the community. I’m not sure.”

Balancing the needs of businesses and residents is of utmost importance, he believes. There is a perception out there that there is a lot of emphasis maintaining tourism and a happy business corridor, but once you get beyond Front Street, city interests wains, Lundgren said. 

He feels strongly about maintaining the businesses. 

“I think whether it is perceived or real, the city is going to have to maintain that balance. The residents want to see benefits from these big festivals, like Oktoberfest,” Lundgren said. “Nobody is against tourism or Oktoberfest, but they want accountability, if there are three weekends in a row that we want to leave town, how is that benefitting us? We need to have a lot of accountability as a city. I feel the residents don’t know how those profits are divvied up, but the perception is it benefits a few.”

He cares about the quality of life here. 

“I want Leavenworth to continue to be a wonderful place to raise our families. There’s a lot of people here having children or moving here with young families. We’re putting our roots down. That demographic is an important voice in the community,” Lundgren said. “Unfortunately, many of us are working two full time jobs. It makes working for the city really challenging. 

“The committee meetings are during the workday. That’s when the decisions are being made. City Council is passing the resolutions at night, but the decisions have been made before the meeting. 

How do we improve the process and transparency to get in on these sessions without missing a day of work?”

Ian Dunn can be reached at 548-5286 or editor@leavenworthecho.com.