Departing Tacoma City Council members offer advice for tackling major issues ahead
Three Tacoma City Council members will leave the council starting in 2022, and three new faces will take their places.
Council members Lillian Hunter and Chris Beale decided they would not run for re-election, and Council member Robert Thoms could not run again due to term limits.
While Tacoma City Council seats are technically nonpartisan positions, the Council is losing two of its more moderate-leaning political members — Hunter and Thoms — in a majority of more progressive-leaning electeds.
Tacoma’s Council is composed of nine people, including the mayor. Its members are limited to two four-year terms.
In recent interviews with The News Tribune, the outgoing officials reflected on their time on Council and what they think the new Council needs to focus on moving forward.
Robert Thoms
Thoms, 51, has served on the Council for nine years after first being appointed in 2013. He represents Northeast Tacoma, the Port of Tacoma and parts of downtown Tacoma for District 2. He lives with his wife, Valerie, and three kids.
Come January, Sarah Rumbaugh will take his seat.
Thoms is a veteran of the Persian Gulf War and a commander in the U.S. Navy Reserve. Prior to joining Council, Thoms ran a public affairs consulting firm.
In 2018, after being re-elected to City Council, Thoms was deployed to Afghanistan for about seven months.
Thoms said he looks forward to spending more time with his family off City Council and returning to work in the private sector. He still plans to be involved in public service and said running for office again isn’t out of the question, although he doesn’t have a specific position he plans to pursue.
At the final City Council meeting of the year, Council thanked him for his service for both Tacoma and the country.
“Even if we don’t agree on the approach or how to solve a problem, I know at the end of the day that Robert Thoms is coming to the table to be helpful, to be supportive, to be a collaborator,” Deputy Mayor Keith Blocker said at the Dec. 14 meeting.
Council members said he’d be remembered for speaking his mind and what they called his “Thoms-isms,” or his often-used metaphors and words, like “heretofore.”
“While I’m always intense, it’s simply because I’m not patient and I want to be part of the solution,” Thoms said.
During his time on Council, Thoms focused on improving public safety and transportation infrastructure and growing economic development downtown.
When asked what work stuck out to him during his time on Council, Thoms mentioned the Hire Program, which aims to help people experiencing homelessness build up job skills, and work to install secured, covered trash cans downtown after noticing more litter and blight in Tacoma’s Theater District.
Thoms also helped secure funding to open Fire Station 5 serving parts of Central Tacoma and the Tideflats, and supported creating the citizen-led Transit Oriented Development Advisory Group to help inform the design and development of significant transit projects throughout the city, including the Dome District.
Thoms helped make it easier for businesses to make sidewalk cafes or “streateries” in the city, and most recently during the COVID-19 pandemic, led the charge to allow restaurants with liquor licenses to serve cocktails to-go amid restrictions on in-house dining.
Thoms said he is proud to have worked on the Safe Routes to School program to implement beacons and speed zones throughout the city after finding out that many schools in Tacoma didn’t have them.
“That’s one that really sticks out to me, because I believe, again, in order to restore and foster trust of citizens, you need to address those issues that are most impactful to them and their lives,” Thoms said.
It’s a sentiment that Thoms felt at times got lost while he was on Council. Council sometimes lacked focus on the core services to the community, Thoms said, like cleaning up trash across the city and making sure there are working streets and transportation infrastructure.
“Those are the types of things that, even to this day, Tacoma really needs to evaluate whether we’re providing the core services people expect and deserve,” Thoms said.
Thoms said those services are especially true in Tacoma’s downtown core.
“It is the heart of our region. It’s the heart of Pierce County,” Thoms said. “So we have to be the nicest part of our community. The safest part of our community.”
Thoms said he struggled at times on Council with mobilizing action, seeing a lack of resolve and unanimity.
“I think the challenge is there’s a lot of things that are talked about, but not a lot of things that become operationally executed,” Thoms said. “We were always looking for ‘the’ solution. And you know, I would argue there is no ‘the’ solution. There’s a daily grind of rolling up your sleeves and making a difference. And if you’re waiting for some magic solution to show up some magic source of resources, it never shows up.”
Thoms would like to see the city use its next chunk of the federal American Rescue Plan Act funding to address some of those problems, including blight and homelessness. Thoms was a major proponent of putting a law prohibiting public camping back on the books, but the effort was shot down by other Council members earlier this month.
“I hope (the Council) will spend the second half (of funding) making the city cleaner, making the city safer. Buying one or two sites where we can have a managed encampment,” he said.
Thoms’ advice to the Council moving forward is to “act locally and think globally.”
“We have to align ourselves on a handful of things that we’re just going to knock out of the park,” Thoms said. “And I hope those who proceed me on the council will do that.”
Thoms said one way to create a stronger focus on the issues in Tacoma is to change the city’s form of government from a city manager form of government to a “strong mayor” form of government, which makes the mayor the chief executive rather than a separate city manager. It’s an initiative he wants to take on in the future.
“I’m going to be pursuing this strong mayor thing,” Thoms said. “I think that’s an important change.”
Lillian Hunter
Hunter, who is in her late 60s, has served on City Council for four years after being elected in 2017. Her At-Large Pos. 6 seat represents all constituents in Tacoma.
Kiara Daniels was elected to take her seat starting January.
Hunter lives in Tacoma’s South End with her two beagles. Her family immigrated to Tacoma from Denmark when she was a child.
Prior to joining Council, Hunter had a long history in education, and was formerly the director of alternative learning for the Office of Superintendent for Public Instruction and a trustee for Bates Technical College. She also worked as a teacher and administrator with Tacoma Public Schools.
When asked why she didn’t run for re-election, Hunter said she felt it was time to step aside for a new generation.
“I think at some point, as a leader… you have to take a look at what you’ve done and know when you are more effective by stepping aside and letting the next generation step forward,” she said.
Hunter added she wants to explore more work in art and textiles, which has been a passion of hers. In the future she can see herself doing work for nonprofits or teaching at local community colleges.
During her time on Council, Hunter was an advocate for public safety and became the first woman to chair the policy board for South Sound 911, which opened its new facility earlier this year.
Hunter also mentioned being proud of her work with the City Council to vote in support of tenant protections following outcry after a group of low-income residents at the former Tiki Apartments received 20-day eviction notices in 2018. The city’s Rental Housing Code requires a 120-day notice to vacate and relocation assistance for low-income tenants and a 60-day notice requirement for rent increases.
Hunter — and Thoms — voted against the Home in Tacoma project, which aims to encourage more types of housing in the city by replacing single-family and low-density multifamily zoning with low-scale and mid-scale housing designations. Hunter previously said the project was “fraught with consternation and high emotions and conspiracy theories about moving something forward under the cloak of darkness during COVID by only doing it virtually.”
When making policies, Hunter was also a voice for Tacoma’s older generations, which she said is one of the fastest growing populations. Most recently, she brought to Council an Age-Friendly Action Plan that outlines efforts to expand access to health care, information, housing and transportation for those 65 and older.
“That’s where transportation is a big deal, walkable streets are a big deal, looking at senior housing is a big deal,” she said.
Hunter said the Council’s efforts of passing a restriction on the expansion of fossil-fuel infrastructure on the Tideflats was a good example of collaboration between the City Council and the business community, and how too often, she found action stymied as the Council looked for “perfect” solutions. Grandstanding and a “winner take all” attitude is common in politics right now, Hunter said.
“When you’re in a ‘winner-take-all’ mode, you lose a lot,” Hunter said.
Like Thoms, Hunter said at times she was frustrated by what felt like a lack of movement on major issues, such as the proposed prohibition of camping on public property, which Hunter supported.
“Sometimes I think I had a front row seat to the death of common sense,” Hunter said.
While frustrated at times, Hunter commended city staff for doing a “marvelous job” at keeping the city running.
“No one coming onto the Council is prepared to grasp what it takes to run a city,” she said.
The same goes for her Council colleagues, she said.
“I didn’t serve with anybody who went rogue, who was vicious… These are really hard-working, decent people that I served with, and I’m really proud of that,” she said.
Council members on Dec. 14 thanked Hunter for her wisdom and optimism on Council.
“You’re just like a beacon of how someone should be involved in things — very enthusiastically, with heart, with passion and class,” Thoms said.
Chris Beale
Chris Beale, who is in his mid-30s, has served on the City Council for four years, after being elected in 2017. He represents the South Tacoma and South End neighborhoods for District 5.
Joe Bushnell will take over the seat in January.
According to the city website, Beale lives with his wife, Mallory, in South Tacoma. He works as a city planner for the city of Puyallup.
Beale declined an interview with The News Tribune for this story.
On the Dec. 14 City Council meeting, Beale spoke about his time on the Council.
“It really has been both an honor and a privilege,” he said.
Beale added that none of his work was done in a vacuum. He thanked his fellow Council members, city staff, city manager Elizabeth Pauli and Tacoma residents for their work.
“That really is the biggest honor, is all of the public servants that serve this community doing everything that they do and honestly, it’s pretty incredible,” he said.
During his time on Council, Beale advocated for green environmental policy, affordable housing and tenants rights, public safety and transportation infrastructure, and equity and inclusion.
Beale was applauded by environmentalists for pushing for higher restriction of fossil fuels on the Tideflats. He also in part led the effort to declare a climate emergency in Tacoma, supported a resolution to reduce the city’s carbon footprint and sponsored the city’s 2030 Climate Action Plan.
Beale also sponsored Vision Zero, a strategy currently being developed by the city to “eliminate all traffic fatalities and severe injuries, while increasing safe, healthy, equitable mobility for all.”
Earlier this month, Beale voted against changes to a property tax exemption program used to promote multifamily housing development in Tacoma. The changes expanded the geographic area for financial incentives in new multifamily housing projects that provide affordable units, but Beale questioned the effectiveness of the program and said more needed to be done to provide affordable housing. Beale did vote in support of the Home in Tacoma proposal.
On Dec. 14, Tacoma City Council members said that Beale was known for sticking to his values and being guided by his internal moral compass.
“You’re thoughtful. You’re authentic. You’re compassionate. You’re respectful, evening while disagreeing with folks,” Mayor Victoria Woodards said at the meeting.
Beale said one of the most difficult parts about being a City Council member is balancing the work with other duties.
“It’s just very difficult for somebody to take this position on as a full time job without taking a big financial hardship,” he said. “And I think if this community wants to get serious about equity on the council and representation on the council, this job really needs to be full time. Needs to be paid full-time, needs to be supported full-time.”
Beale said that he hopes to see that change in the future as the city grows.
“That’s been the biggest challenge for me is balancing a job with this job and trying to be present for constituents,” he said.
