Community Government

Election profile: Lonergan vs. Denson for county council

Posted on October 27th, 2022 By: Ed Friedrich

Pierce County Council candidate Paula Lonergan had some catching up to do after the Aug. 2 primary election. We’re less than two weeks away from discovering whether she succeeded in chasing down Robyn Denson from behind.

Denson, the lone Democrat, garnered 58% of the primary vote. Four Republicans split the other 42%, with Lonergan nipping Josh Harris by 86 votes to advance. The North Tacoman can be expected to add most of her peers’ voters and try to make up the difference from the many thousands who skipped the primary but will participate in the Nov. 8 general election.

The women are vying to represent the council’s seventh district, which serves the Gig Harbor and Key peninsulas, Fox Island, Ruston, and north and west Tacoma. The winner will replace Derek Young, D-Gig Harbor, who is completing his second and final four-year term.

The council is responsible for passing legislation, setting county policy, adopting the county’s budget and holding government meetings. The salary is $120,285.

Lonergan, 69, worked for 30 years as a state government human resource manager and program manager before retiring. The wife of Pierce County Assessor-Treasurer Mike Lonergan, she has been appointed to serve as a Tacoma Human Rights Commissioner and Washington State Affordable Housing Advisory Board member. The Air Force veteran currently chairs the Pierce County Sheriff’s Civil Service Board.

Denson, 47, serves on the Gig Harbor City Council and was a member of the parks commission. She worked for nonprofit organizations for more than 20 years, including Habitat for Humanity and a Community Action agency. She also was employed as a nonpartisan housing policy analyst in the Washington State House of Representatives.

Lonergan reaching out in variety of ways

The four Republicans realized only one would likely survive the top-two primary and pledged to back that candidate.

“They have been very supportive, and I appreciate that,” Lonergan said. “… I’ve been blessed that we’ve been able to come together in that way and try to help each other.”

Lonergan has sought to identify those who aren’t frequent voters and help them understand their views are important. She has connected through a multifaceted campaign that includes the typical media but with additional undivulged tools and resources.

“All you can do is your very best to reach out to people, to convey a clear message, present priorities and offer yourself as the best candidate that someone might want to have represent them and their ideas of what needs to be addressed.” Lonergan said. “I’m feeling like this is the right path to be on to reach people in a variety of ways.”

Denson has raised significantly more money overall, but Lonergan has brought in slightly more since the primary, according to the state Public Disclosure Commission. Campaign spending is relatively equal with Denson at $81,000 to Lonergan’s $69,000. The Republican Party pitched in just $1,000 for Lonergan. Another $2,000 came from political action committees. Denson received $23,000 from the Democratic Party and PACs.

Denson kept on truckin’

Denson gave her campaign signs — and people’s eyes — a break after the primary, but didn’t take one herself. She continued to be omnipresent at events, doorsteps and on social media.

“I don’t take anything for granted,” she said. “This position is too important to District 7. There’s a lot on the line, so I didn’t take a break at all. I’m not going to let up until Nov. 8.”

The race has been cordial, she said, missing much of the nastiness associated with state and federal campaigns.

Robyn Denson

“It has been about what can you do for the community and what our vision is and what our experience is,” she said. “I try to tell people that most of these local issues aren’t partisan issues. It’s just like the city council. We all can come together and want the same things — like safe, clean neighborhoods and a healthy, beautiful environment.

“We need to try to focus on what we have in common instead of what letter we have behind our name and choose people who share our values and choose people to get the job done, because we have some serious issues to deal with.”

Crime remains an obvious concern in the district. But Denson while knocking on doors and attending meetings the past three months has heard others, such as growth, overdevelopment, tree loss and traffic. Another is worries, particularly from older and disabled folks, about rising property taxes. She would work with the state to expand programs to provide more relief.

Crime remains top concern

Three more months of meeting residents hasn’t changed Lonergan’s view of their greatest concern.

“I started out with the belief that crime is our No. 1 issue and that has not left me,” she said. “Things are not getting better. We’re doing a lot of things to help the homeless and putting a great deal of money into that area and trying to provide housing for people who need it, but we still have an issue with out-of-control crime.”

Lonergan has ridden with Tacoma police and Pierce County deputies and been impressed with their professionalism and caring.

“They’re trying to do a really tough job under pretty tough circumstances,” she said. “I see them fighting through the frustration, feeling like they want to make a difference but struggling with the limited tools available to them.”

Lonergan is particularly concerned about clearing out court backlogs and staffing the jail so criminals aren’t free to continue offending.

Public Affairs Forum, Denson & Lonergan from Gig Harbor Chamber of Commerce on Vimeo.

Question and Answer

Gig Harbor Now asked both candidates for written responses to five questions, covering the issues of police coverage, broadband, housing/homeless and the Fox Island bridge. Their responses are printed verbatim below.

Police coverage

The sheriff’s department is struggling with staffing, both on patrol and in the jail. What can be done with wages, sign-on bonuses, retention strategies or other avenues to increase staffing and possibly get more deputies patrolling overall and in District 7 in particular?

Denson: Pierce County is understaffed for Sheriff Deputies and Correctional Officers. The good news is that the County Council recently ratified a contract with the Sheriff Deputies and the Corrections Officers, giving them a double-digit pay increase over the next two years. Recruitment and retention bonuses were also added. The County has hired 19 deputies this year so far and I’ve heard promising stories about a number of deputies, who were previously thinking about leaving the department, changing their minds and staying.

The shortage of Correctional Officers has impacted our ability to book and hold people in jail. This has become a serious issue for communities as some offenders, turned back out to await their trial, continue to commit crimes against our residents.

Staffing rural detachments, like ours, the Peninsula Detachment, is a challenge when other, more urban-areas of the County are experiencing greater volume of violent crimes (the priority for the department) and the system is short on deputies overall. However, we’ve grown a lot in the Gig Harbor, Fox Island and Key Peninsula area and it’s clearly unrealistic for a few deputies to be able to cover our enormous geographic area adequately. It’s the Sheriff’s job to assign deputies around the County, however advocating to add deputy presence here in the more rural area of District 7 (GH, FI and KP) is one of my top priorities.

In terms of recruiting for law enforcement positions, we need to get creative. I have real work experience successfully communicating the desirability and advantages of careers that have suffered an image issue or have fallen out of popularity (I used to recruit for skilled trades careers). I’ll encourage and support law enforcement recruitment efforts to young people in high school, community and technical colleges, our local colleges and universities as well as within the community, for example, at faith centers, neighborhood groups and other civic organizations. With so many available positions, we have an opportunity to intentionally work to increase diversity within our law enforcement agencies. I’d like to see targeted efforts to recruit individuals from marginalized and historically underrepresented communities. It is my belief that increasing diversity within our department will provide opportunities to improve levels of trust for the department within all neighborhoods and will improve service to everyone in District 7 and throughout Pierce County.

I have a strong track record of supporting law enforcement as a Gig Harbor City Councilperson. This has earned me the endorsement of Teamsters 117, the union representing our Gig Harbor Police Officers. I’ve done ride-alongs with Gig Harbor Police as well as the Pierce County Sheriff Department to get a first-hand look at what our law enforcement professionals face every day. I look forward to working to ensure we have the right number of law enforcement officials and that they have the tools and resources they need to keep us safe.

Lonergan: New contracts for patrol and corrections deputies have recently been ratified and approved by the Council to increase salary, offer lateral transfer and new recruit sign-on bonuses, and retain existing deputy and correctional staff. All of this will help improve recruitment and retention and make the department more competitive as compared to other law enforcement agencies; however, the real issue is undoing the damage done in 2021 by legislative changes that existing leadership neglected to address during the last session, specifically, in the areas of pursuit and leaving officers vulnerable to personal liability by those they arrest.

All law enforcement, including the Sheriff’s Department, have traditionally relied on recruiting individuals who are former military, however all military branches are having difficulty meeting their recruiting goals because young adults are not gravitating to enlisting or going into law enforcement as a desired career choice. As a result, the Sheriff’s Department must explore different recruiting strategies, for example focusing efforts on schools that are traditionally or historically focused on educating individuals of ethnic minority backgrounds and going into communities where there is underrepresentation, for example in the Asian community.

Recruiting candidates who are attending community college may also be good place to start. The Civil Service Board, which I chair, approved a department request that allows consideration of candidates to apply at the age of 19 who, upon being hired, are 20 years of age instead of 21.

Recruiters should search in smaller communities throughout the state and U.S. where major job losses have occurred due to changing economic times, for example where environmental policy has removed jobs. Some recruits may be willing to relocate if there is another career opportunity and help with relocation expenses.

A large percentage of applicants do not pass the testing, interview, background checks and other screening and necessary training, but these requirements are vital to ensure the county hires quality candidates who will succeed and remain with the department for many years to come.

Like other unincorporated areas of our county, District 7 really needs more staff resources to ensure deputies can safely respond to emergencies as quickly as possible. As more staff are hired and trained, my expectation is the department will deploy more staff to not only help fill staffing gaps in the district but also ensure there is sufficient staffing to replace deputies as they retire.

Broadband

How can the county expand broadband access, especially in rural areas such as the Key Peninsula, now that it has received federal funding to address the issue of equitable internet connectivity?

Denson: One of the things that makes the Key Peninsula such a wonderful place to live, also causes its biggest challenges in regards to expanding broadband access: People live far apart and there are a lot of trees. There are actually areas of unincorporated Gig Harbor suffering from poor broadband as well. I spoke with many individuals in the North Peacock Hill area, for example, who shared stories of frequently being without service.

Throughout his time on Council, our current District 7 Councilperson (and Council Chair), Derek Young, has worked hard on increasing broadband to areas of the Key Peninsula. Earlier this year, the County Council declared five areas in our County as “Broadband Improvement Districts” and two of the five are on the Key Peninsula. The County Council has recognized broadband as essential infrastructure. It impacts young people’s ability to go to school, adults’ ability to work remotely and seniors’ ability to access health care online. With limited public transit opportunities on the KP (another thing I’ll be working on), internet access is critically important.

We’ve got some reasons to celebrate, but much work remains to be done. Recently a contract was signed with Comcast which will be providing service North of 302 around Wright Bliss. The County is assisting with the cost of infrastructure, utilizing federal funding, in a Public/private partnership.

We’ve got some outstanding community broadband advocates, like Mark Cockerill, who continues to investigate ways to expand broadband to all areas of the KP as quickly as possible. I’ve been meeting with Mark on this issue, he’s supporting my candidacy and I look forward to working with him and others to accomplish broadband coverage on the Key Peninsula, as well as underserved areas of Gig Harbor.

Lonergan: After completing Pierce County’s countywide Broadband Connectivity and Access Evaluation, the Council very recently approved Ordinance 2022-38 to address expansion of broadband access throughout the county. This meets the Growth Management Acts (GMA) requirements for County Planning purposes and allows for market forces to actively engage in meeting the needs of the entire county.

With this ordinance in effect, the only question that remains is how soon will Key Peninsula’s unserved areas benefit from receiving these expanded services. As I understand what’s been approved, the expansion will take place starting from areas where connectivity currently exists, and extend outward. The county has designated $15 million in American Recovery Plan Act funding to facilitate this expansion throughout the county. Two corporate entities are most likely to provide the additional service needed, depending on access to existing poles, the necessity to replace poles and the ability to access underground utilities.

At this point, we know where the need is, but the timeline to complete this extensive work and obligate these funds will still take some time.

Housing/homeless

The county is investing more than $200 million in the current budget cycle to increase access to affordable housing and support programs and resources aimed at keeping people housed and off the streets. What are some ways that this money can best be used?

Denson: We need to approach the homeless crisis with a three-pronged strategy.

1. We need to help people currently living on the street into a more stable housing environment, even if that is a sanctioned encampment or safe parking site where there is sanitation, human/social services and people can be triaged and helped into whatever the next step of housing is given their particular situation. We need to create these sanctioned encampments and safe parking areas so people have places to go. Sweeping encampments only moves people from one neighborhood to another nearby and exacerbates the problem. We also need to fund other kinds of transitional and affordable housing – everything from tiny home villages to single-room occupancy apartments (converted hotels, for example). We can also support ‘shared-housing’ initiatives to find people a stable, safe place to live. There are so many reasons people find themselves without a home, everyone’s situation is different (and usually complicated) and we need a variety of solutions. We also need the support services to help people to continue to move up and onwards towards self-sufficiency.

2. We need to prevent people who are “on the edge” from entering homelessness or at the very least make their homeless experience as short as possible. The longer an individual or family is on the street, the more issues develop and the more difficult (and expensive) it is to help them achieve self-sufficiency. Case management, financial counseling, rental subsidies, connecting them with shared housing programs or more affordable housing options and then addressing underlying causes – helping them access better jobs, solving transportation issues, etc. Being unhoused is traumatic, over 25% of unhoused people are children (typically couch surfing with family but often also in cars with a parent). Prevention is key to stemming the flow of people into homelessness and also preventing a lot of other issues from developing in the lives of those affected.

3. To curb the flow of increasing homelessness we’ve got to address root-causes. We must make sure our children have what they need to grow into healthy, stable, productive members of society. Good childhood education, early mental-health interventions, someplace to be before/after school and positive trusted role models are just a few of the things we need to be sure every child in District 7 has access to so no one is left behind. We also need to remove barriers to homeownership and support generational wealth-building instead of allowing generational poverty to continue. Setting children up for success will result in fewer being unhoused or turning to unhealthy or unproductive behaviors in the future.

Lonergan: This amount represents a significant investment to address the need for affordable housing throughout our county, to include support programs to help people remain housed. In every instance, when investments like this are made, we must ensure that all the funding is actually applied to helping the homeless so that it doesn’t produce negligible results.

Last month, $17 million was awarded for the development and preservation of affordable housing, resulting in 335 newly built units and 17 preserved units for low income residents. Twenty five hundred additional affordable housing units are in development countywide; and, nine new projects are funded across the county to assist families, individuals experiencing homelessness, seniors, veterans and individuals with development disabilities.

I support the county’s proposal for a $22 million micro home village and the acquisition of 20 acres of land to establish a Pierce County Community First Village, funded by American Recovery Plan Act funds, to house a minimum of 200 residents. It will not only be a secure place to reside, but wrap around services will also be provided along with a sense of community for those who have experienced homelessness.

Zoning and permitting options to allow for the village as well as other housing options, to include modular homes, duplexes/tri-plexes, townhomes, condos, etc., may also require additional consideration for housing at a variety of income levels to help meet current and future housing needs as our population continues to grow.

What I don’t want to do is mimic the actions of other governmental entities where millions are sunk into helping the homeless, with little or no apparent impact on reducing or eliminating homelessness, by failing to address the issues that drove individuals to sink into this condition. That’s why the Council not only needs to monitor who’s doing what and how this funding is used, but determine measurements are in place to demonstrate real success.

My concern is that these funds accomplish as much as possible to improve the homeless situation throughout our county; and, we are actually make progress in reducing homelessness verses encouraging more individuals to reside here to take advantage of these services when there may be less funding available in the future for additional major projects.

Fox Island Bridge

The county will add a $1.8 million type, size and location study to its Transportation Improvement Program in January. Whatever it comes up with, the bulk of the huge cost will fall on 4,000 islanders. What can the county do to alleviate some of that burden?

Denson: I’ve been talking to people about the Fox Island Bridge issue for many years and I’ve been meeting with Fox Island advocates specifically about this issue ever since I decided to run for County Council. I’ll make sure Fox Island residents are involved in the process and plans for the bridge every step of the way so that the result is a bridge that works for the community and that is funded in a way that is equitable and that doesn’t cause undue burden on Fox Island residents.

This is going to be a big, complicated project. As a current local government elected official, I understand the way local government budgets work, I know how to get projects into the queue and through completion, and I have essential relationships at the local, state and federal level to leverage resources for cost efficiency and the best results. This is going to be particularly important for the Fox Island Bridge project.

We’ve got to be sure the bridge design is safe but I’ve heard from residents that they want to keep the price down as much as possible – they don’t want “bells and whistles” that will increase the cost. I’ll be sure their voices are heard on design and funding options. As a former grant writer with an expertise on securing state and federal grants, I’ll be advocating for leveraging as much external dollars as possible.

It will be my job to make sure residents of Fox Island get the bridge they want (while obviously following all code requirements) and that it’s funded in a way that is not an undue burden to this small community.

Lonergan: This is an issue that I’ve been tracking and will continue to keep it on my radar. So far, the only number I’ve heard is a very high rough estimate of the future anticipated cost to replace the existing bridge. If replacement is determined, that work is unlikely to begin for several years. That said, I believe we can benefit from lessons learned from other bridge projects.

I want to ensure that residents are fully informed about what’s going on—not just expected to look online for updates, but actually notified as efforts to maintain the current bridge continue. Residents should also know what to anticipate prior to work beginning, to include project financing, while work is taking place and after completion.

At a Planning Commission meeting held in August, a Transportation Improvement Plan (TIP) recommendation was submitted for an engineering study on a new bridge and proposed funding to begin this work. Until we know more, we won’t have any specifics about anticipated cost, environmental impact and potential right of way issues. My great concern is the cost may far exceed what has been estimated (with inflation and supply chain delays raising construction costs) and at least five years before any work will actually begin.

I trust that the County will apply for grants to help mitigate financial impact, that is, assuming the Council make up is such that it is willing allow the county to pursue funding options, to include grants. The current council seems reluctant to allow the County to meet its commitments to complete other transportation roadway projects, so the concern about alleviating some of this financial burden is a real one if, in the future, council members are reluctant to address citizens’ concerns.