Puyallup’s crowded City Council races are the busiest the city of 40,000 has seen in a decade, making it the most actively contested government races on this month’s Pierce County primary election ballot.

A total of nine candidates are running for three seats in Puyallup. The two candidates in each race who get the most votes in the Aug. 18 primary advance to November’s general election. The number of candidates is unusual in Puyallup, where recent council elections have been full of uncontested races and rarely have required a primary vote – only once this decade.

Not once in the past 10 years have three Puyallup council races in the same election year all attracted enough candidates to warrant primaries.

This year, councilman Rick Hansen seeks election to the District 2 position he was appointed to fill in January 2008. He’s running against Louise Workman, a self-employed private investigator, and Christopher Taylor, a retired Tacoma police detective.

Councilman George Dill in District 1 faces challengers Tony Aho, who is the assistant director of admission and advising at Pacific Lutheran University, and Chris Weltzer, an employee of Hometown Insurance in Graham.

Meanwhile, Councilman Mike Deal isn’t returning next year. Vying for his District 3 seat are John Alexander, an ex-Army Ranger who frequently attends council meetings; Nicolla Tebao, an online instructor with the University of Phoenix; and Kent Boyle, who hosts a morning radio show in Olympia.

The influx of candidates follows a contentious 20 months on the Puyallup council in which Hansen, Dill and fellow Councilman John Knutsen have often been at odds with the other four council members. The friction dates back to when the three dissidents opposed the promotion of Gary McLean from city attorney to city manager in January 2008.

The three councilmen also voted earlier this year to remove McLean from his position, though the other four council members opted to retain the city manager.

Other disagreements between council members have included disputes over open government policies and public records access, as well as two proposals to alter council voting districts that Hansen, Knutsen and Dill viewed as gerrymandering.

A council meeting in April became so heated that citizens began shouting at council members and police had to call backup to the council chambers.

Deal’s departure has the potential to shift the council majority in Dill, Hansen and Knutsen’s favor, depending on who wins the open seat and whether Hansen and Dill each wins another term.

Boyle, one of the candidates for Deal’s District 3 seat, said he thinks it’s important that council members improve communication. He said that’s the main reason he decided to run.

“In order to see a vision for the city, the people in the leadership roles have to be able to communicate with one another,” Boyle said Wednesday. “There’s no place for packing grudges and pointing fingers and things of that nature.”

Alexander said he agrees that the council needs to do a better job of voting based on the issues at hand, not who is on whose side. But he also has been critical of what he sees as a lack of government transparency and the council majority’s hiring of McLean without an outside search.

“There could have been someone out in Texas who would have been a great city manager,” Alexander said. “But we don’t know because they didn’t do that search.”

Tebao said she thinks council members too often have let their egos affect their decision making. People can disagree in a healthy manner, she said.

“I’d like to see personalities put aside and principles moving forward,” Tebao said. “It has been personalities above principles, and that’s not what policy-making is about.”

Melissa Santos: 253-552-7058

melissa.santos@thenewstribune.com

 • For more information about individual candidates for Puyallup City Council, visit The News Tribune’s online Voter Guide at wwwb.thenewstribune.com/elections.