Exec Bruce Dammeier delivers his last state of the county address. Here’s what he said
Standing in front of local officials and families in Parkland’s Keithley Middle School on Wednesday afternoon, April 10, Pierce County Executive Bruce Dammeier reflected on his eight years in office, highlighting various issues, partnerships and ongoing solutions in his last annual State of Pierce County address.
Dammeier, who is a Republican, was elected as county executive in November 2016 and was re-elected to his second four-year term in November 2020. His seat is up for election in November.
Prior to working for the county Dammeier served in the state Senate from 2013-2016, in the state House of Representatives from 2009-2013 and was a member of the Puyallup School Board from 2001-2009.
Over the course of about an hour Dammeier touched on challenges facing Pierce County youth, crime, law enforcement, homelessness, affordable housing, economic development, career readiness, parks and health outcome disparities.
Dammeier become a grandparent during his tenure as county executive. He said the experience “changed me” and “brought a degree of urgency and importance to ensuring that every child in Pierce County has the best possible start and that we’re creating for them the best possible future.”
Young people are struggling from the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, with record-breaking counts of chronic absenteeism, mental health issues, violence and drug use, he said.
Investment in a pilot program to bring mental health services to Orting, Peninsula, Puyallup and White River schools has shown to be beneficial, Dammeier said. Other programs like the Outdoor LIFE program and The Coffee Oasis have been powerful tools in expanding services and opportunities to vulnerable youth, he added.
In terms of public safety, Dammeier denounced unspecified state legislation he said was “well intended in theory, but in practicality made our communities less safe” by emboldening criminals and demoralizing law enforcement officers.
Dammeier said the county “made some strong moves” in response to put forward “very strong” compensation packages for officers, including incentives for retention and lateral transfers. The county also supported law enforcement with new tools and technology, offered grants to local businesses to beef up security and invested in body and dash cameras “to be more transparent with our community,” he said.
“I was very concerned that in Pierce County we were going to not have enough deputies on the streets or in our jail to keep our community safe,” he said. “Right now I am hopeful that by the end of the summer we will be fully staffed on both our patrol and our jail.”
In an effort to offer a better answer to chronic homelessness, Dammeier touted the Community First! Village that is being proposed to be built near Spanaway.
“It is inhumane that we would allow people to live like that. But I also am really concerned for our community. What are we telling our community when we look the other way as we drive by? Mostly, I’m afraid of what we’re teaching our kids about how humans live in our society,” he said. “We’ve got to have a better answer for that.”
Dammeier said in 2024 the average home price in Pierce County is $536,000 but the average household income is $82,500, which “means we are at risk of having huge parts of our community being priced out of living in Pierce County.”
Fifteen different government entities in the area, including the Puyallup Tribe of Indians are discussing ways to streamline housing development to make it more efficient and less costly. He applauded Habitat for Humanity’s home ownership model and work, but said “we need tens of thousands of units of different kinds with different affordability for different people to meet who’s living here now and particularly when we look at how our communities are going to grow.”
Although he applauded the groundbreaking of a new Bethel High School, Dammeier noted it took 17 years to build the much-needed facility the community rallied around, another example of well-intended government policies and regulations that “almost made that high school impossible to build,” he said.
He also expressed concerns about the county’s Comprehensive Plan update, which addresses growth over the next decade. Dammeier said he also thought some of the policies proposed in the comprehensive plan update would exacerbate the county’s affordability problem, driving the cost of housing up further.
“I’m very concerned that it does not recognize housing in the way that we need it to,” he said. “There are proposals aimed to reduce where housing can be … and how houses can be built. And I think that would be devastating for our community. We need more and more types of housing. We need people to be able to choose where they live, choose the schools their kids go to, not be restricted.”
In terms of wage growth, Dammeier said family wage careers in Pierce County that support the quality of life people want “is the other half of the equation” in terms of housing affordability.
He highlighted successes of the Pierce County Business Accelerator program, as well as the WorkForce Central and Maritime 253 skills centers in strengthening the workforce and setting youth up for success. Dammeier also spoke about innovation coming out of local community and technical colleges and universities including a joint partnership to bring a new medical center to Pacific Lutheran University’s campus in Spanaway.
April 11 along the shores of the now-clean Foss Waterway, Dammeier said there would be a ribbon cutting of new Melanie’s Park. Work to restore the Chamber’s Creek Estuary and remove a dam that has clogged salmon routes has also been part of the county’s commitment to restore the natural beauty of this area, he said.
At the end of his speech, Dammeier said there are still tremendous health disparities in Pierce County and said he was excited about the Blue Zones initiative in Parkland-Spanaway studying ways to make it better.
“This is my final State of the County address. And as I leave, I’ve been focusing all of my service — in the Navy, on the Puyallup School Board, in the state legislature, both in the House and in the Senate, and my time here with my county colleagues — it’s always been about stewardship and leaving it better than you found it,” he said. “We’ve worked hard toward that, and I’m proud of the record that we have so far, but we’re not done yet. There’s still work to do and we’re going to continue to do that very important work for our community.”
This story was originally published April 10, 2024 at 3:57 PM.
