Traffic snarls, $30M wastewater project are key issues in this Pierce County race
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Five candidates vie to replace Orting mayor as public safety tops priority lists.
- $30M wastewater plant upgrade and key evacuation bridge face budget challenges.
- Traffic congestion and transit expansion drive major infrastructure discussions.
Orting is getting a new mayor for the first time in eight years, and the race is sparking conversations about safety, growth, infrastructure, traffic and more.
Josh Penner — the current mayor of the city with about 9,000 residents — was elected to the Washington State House of Representatives earlier this year. He represents District 31, which stretches across East Pierce County and parts of southeastern King County.
Since January 2025, he has served in both roles concurrently, but will step down from his mayoral position in January 2026 to focus on his legislative job. That means voters need to select his replacement.
Who is running for Orting mayor?
Five candidates are running to fill Penner’s seat in the primary election on Aug. 5. The two candidates with the most votes will move onto the general election in November.
The five candidates are:
- Scott Drennen, a former Orting city council member. He served on the council from 1995 to 2005 and again from 2006 to 2021. He also served on the public works committee and Orting’s planning commission. Penner has endorsed Drennen to fill his seat.
- Stanley Holland, an Orting city council member. Holland used to serve on the Orting School Board and now serves on the board of directors for the Puget Sound Educational Service District 121 and was in leadership roles for the Orting Lions Club.
- Gregory Hogan, an Orting city council member who has served as deputy mayor four times. He was chairman of the Orting School Board from 1991 to 2004 and served on the city’s planning commission from 2013 to 2018.
- Chris Moore, an Orting city council member who has also served on the city’s public safety and public works committees. Moore is also chair of the Pierce County Flood Zone Control District Advisory Committee.
- Jim Rutt, who has 42 years of experience in transportation management. He also has experience “running two very successful small businesses.”
The News Tribune reached out to Moore and did not receive a response by deadline. The other four candidates spoke to The News Tribune about their vision for the city.
Safety in Orting
When The News Tribune asked the candidates what their priorities would be if elected mayor, all of them immediately mentioned safety.
Drennen and Hogan both said they would support the Orting Police Department, and Hogan said he would like to see more officers.
“I would try to maintain and increase our public safety,” Hogan said. “[A police officer shortage] has always been an ongoing challenge in Orting and we would want to watch that.”
Holland said he would like to see both police and citizens play a more active role in keeping the city safe.
“I think we should have a safe city for people to walk the park, walk the neighborhood,” Holland said. “More people, more police patrolling, having police actually walk in the community, just make sure the city’s safer. We can have some neighborhood watch going on.”
Rutt also wants to see an increased police presence, and said he would make the city safer by fixing problems that pose safety hazards.
“[My first priority] would be the safety of our citizens and our young adults and our school children – updating the crosswalks, which are in dire need of it,” Rutt said. “Working with the local police department to see how we can improve mobility and making more frequent stops inside the housing developments, giving the citizens a sense of security.”
Rutt said Orting has a larger-than-average number of pedestrians and bicyclists due to the large number of trails, and he said it’s important to keep the city a safe space for them.
“We have an individual that was hit at a crosswalk that wasn’t completely lit – the flashing yellow lights were outdated,” Rutt said. “And we had people who rode their bikes across the crosswalks that have been hit.”
Growth and infrastructure in Orting
Orting is rapidly growing, and the city has several infrastructure projects underway.
One of the projects is a $9 million foot bridge that starts from the Foothills Trail and ends near Rocky Road Northeast over state Route 162. Construction started this year. The bridge is meant to help residents evacuate on foot when Mount Rainier erupts.
Another project will bring improvements to Kansas Street between Coe Lane Southwest and Harman Way South. According to the city’s website, the project is in the design phase and will involve rebuilding the road system, improving paved areas and making sidewalks wider. Construction is expected to start in 2025.
Hogan said both of these projects would be a priority for him.
“I would make sure that those projects are going now and the ones that are coming up are properly managed and, at the same time, meet the needs of the citizens of Orting,” Hogan said.
Another challenge in Orting is the city’s wastewater treatment plant. Penner told The News Tribune the plant is 30 years old and needs an upgrade, but that it would cost $30 to $40 million.
Drennen said that upgrade would be his first priority as mayor. He mentioned his experience working for the King County Department of Natural Resources, where he worked with wastewater treatment plants for years.
“I got involved with the design and construction of the first upgraded treatment plant for the City of Orting – upgrading our water system, so I’ve been involved in a lot of the reservoir upgrades,” Drennen said. “My first challenge is going to be to work with the upgrades of our wastewater treatment plant and to control those costs and the startup of that project – to see it to fruition.”
Drennen also said he has made it his priority to keep up with Orting’s growth throughout his career.
“I have participated in so many different levels to make things happen with where we are today,” Drennen said. “To building parks, to building city halls, to public works buildings – seeing these projects to fruition.”
Traffic in Orting
Hogan and Holland were the candidates most concerned with reducing traffic congestion.
“The traffic’s horrendous and it’s quite a bit,” Hogan said.
Hogan said that Orting depends on the Washington State Department of Transportation because they control state Route 162, which runs through town.
“They’re talking about three lanes with a turn lane down on 162, which, in my opinion, would be nice because most people won’t let people out – everybody’s in a hurry,” Hogan said.
He said the interchange at state Route 410 and state Route 162 is the biggest issue.
“We need to somehow get flow in town or out of town – some roundabouts going in and some other plans looking at trying to alleviate drive-through traffic in Orting,” he said.
Holland called the traffic “horrible” and said he would prioritize transportation.
“The biggest challenge is the commute. Orting is a bedroom community, so a lot of people work outside of the city,” Holland said. “So we [would] address this traffic by having Sound Transit, Pierce Transit, getting a bus out here that will pick up the commuters at this train station and drop them off back home. It would get some of the cars off the street.”
Rising costs in Orting
Penner told The News Tribune that Orting’s main challenges are rising costs and infrastructure.
“The cost of public safety, the cost of infrastructure is rising tremendously faster than taxpayers have the ability to pay for,” Penner said. “Orting is not adjacent to any other city, so a lot of the infrastructure challenges that affect Orting require partnership within the county or Washington state.”
Penner named state Route 162 as an example.
“We can manage the infrastructure within the city – getting to the city, we have very little control over,” Penner said. “We’re affected by these infrastructure systems that we don’t have direct authority over.”
When The News Tribune asked Penner about public safety, he said he thinks he’s seen an improvement in Orting’s public safety.
“When I became mayor, there was quite a bit more drug-related issues in Orting,” Penner said. “We actively took a role in shutting down drug houses and that required a collaborative effort between our police department, code enforcement, our legal team and our administrative team and even our public works team.”
Penner said the Orting Police Department is fully staffed.
“We already spend roughly 60% of our general fund on public safety,” Penner said. “I know several of the candidates’ ideas are significantly adding numbers to the police department, but they’re going to have to figure out how to make that work within the budget.”
When The News Tribune asked Penner what his advice will be to his replacement, he said creating a strong team is key.
“Orting is just big enough that you can’t know everyone, but still small enough that everyone can know you,” Penner said. “Focus on figuring out your culture the first year and build the team around you to solve the problems. You can’t know everything as mayor – you have to have a good team around you.”
For information on registering to vote, drop boxes and more, visit the Pierce County Elections page at piercecountywa.gov/328/Elections.
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story misstated whether Mayor Josh Penner endorsed a candidate in the race. Penner endorsed Drennen.
This story was originally published July 23, 2025 at 5:30 AM.
