Butler, Thiele, give update on city, school district at Chamber event

The Issaquah Chamber of Commerce’s first luncheon of the year — the ‘State of the Union’ equivalent for the city of Issaquah and Issaquah School District — gave residents a chance to hear firsthand the upcoming plans for the city and district on Jan. 11 at the Hilton Garden Inn in Issaquah.

Issaquah Mayor Fred Butler and School District Superintendent Ron Thiele both gave speeches updating the luncheon attendees on the city and district, before uniting onstage later to answer individual questions from audience members.

Thiele gave a rundown of the district’s accomplishments over the past year, including passing a bond with over 70 percent approval, making the decision to change bell times and opening three new schools. Of the new schools, Thiele especially focused on Gibson Ek, the Innovative High School that provides students with internships and a career-based curriculum instead of more traditional methods of grading and test-taking.

“There is nothing like it around the state,” Thiele stated, and noted that after nearly a semester, the Gibson Ek students are “off to a terrific start.”

He said that the current student population at the school is 120, but that he hopes to get this number up to 250.

“There is a need to address different types of learners,” Thiele said. “The community has really stepped up to support that school.”

Thiele explained the logic behind the decision to move bell times later, assuring the audience that students don’t just have trouble falling asleep early because they stay up watching movies; according to medical studies, he said, teenagers really do have a difficult time falling asleep before 11 p.m. because of how their bodies are wired.

“That 35 minutes a day of extra sleep will add value,” he said. “I did my homework, I am convinced this is the right thing to do.”

Thiele also looked toward the future, focusing on building four new schools, helping students to have more academic success through improved access to mental and emotional health support and celebrating an increasingly diverse district.

With the district’s student population growing every year — Thiele noted that it is one of the biggest districts in the state — a top priority is to build new schools. Thiele said that part of the $533.5 million school bond that passed last year will be used to construct a new high school, a middle school and two new elementary schools.

“Now the work of putting those dollars to good use begins,” he said. He is hopeful that the district will soon be able to purchase new property for the schools.

Butler focused his speech on the challenges that the city has faced with a growing population, namely transportation and development.

“Most of what’s going to make things better is not a short-term solution,” Butler said, but also noted that “one of the things that Issaquah does well is planning for the future.”

Right now, Butler said the city administration is “trying to determine why [the] citizens did not support” the $50 million traffic bond on the November ballot and is “figur[ing] out what [its] next step is going to be.” The bond received 54 percent of the vote, but did not reach the 60 needed to pass.

In the meantime, he said, the city has taken other actions to address traffic. At a traffic summit in November with transportation experts and state, county and city elected officials, Butler said that the participants “agreed to form coalitions to address regional traffic issues.”

“You get more done when you have coalitions of people working together toward a common goal,” he said.

He noted that the city just finished a new southbound lane on East Lake Sammamish Parkway Southeast and is starting to design improvements for Newport Way Northwest. The city is also partnering with King County on a study of Issaquah-Hobart Road, which Butler called “the number-one traffic problem that is killing us.”

Butler pointed to public transit as a way to ease traffic issues, noting that ridership of the Sound Transit Express busline between Issaquah and Seattle grew by 24 percent in 2016.

He expressed his happiness that the $54 billion light rail measure Sound Transit 3 passed in November. Butler, who is a member of the Sound Transit board of directors, is hopeful that Issaquah will see light rail before the original date of 2041.

“My prediction is … all the projects [in ST3] will move up the list,” he said.

Butler also addressed the year-long, city-wide development moratorium put into place in September 2016. He stated that his goal is to have the moratorium lifted this coming summer.

Additionally, Butler gave an update on the Issaquah Senior Center.

“I’m very happy to report the city has taken over the senior center,” Butler said. “There is a new attitude, a new sense of community and it is very, very uplifting to see the transformation and what that looks like.”

Butler ended his speech by announcing that he will not run for a second term as mayor in November of this year, but assuring everyone that he “will be looking for other opportunities to serve the community.” He told the Reporter that he chose not to run because he does not want the stress of a campaign to detract from his duties as mayor.

Butler, left, explains the problems that congestion on the Issaquah-Hobart Road have given Issaquah residents as Thiele, right, looks on. Nicole Jennings/staff photo