Mayor: Fast-growing Ferndale ‘open for business’

Ferndale is one of Washington’s fastest growing cities and it’s hard to keep track of all that’s happening. To help, here’s the inside scoop on all things Ferndale – starting with the four values that serve as the pillars of my administration: safety, transparency, efficiency and community.

Safety

Our newest law enforcement professional, Officer Myra Pluschakov, just finished her basic training and is out on the streets serving and protecting. Because of our high standards, it took nearly a year to fill this position but we are excited to have her as part of our team.

Speaking of high standards, we hired Utah’s “chief of the year” (as chosen by his peers) to lead the Ferndale police. Following a nationwide search, and with the assistance of a diverse group of 50 citizen leaders, I selected Kevin Turner to come on board. He has already demonstrated a relentless desire to make our safe city even safer.

Two new signaled crosswalks have been installed at critical areas in Ferndale (at the library and near Ferndale High School). Big kudos to Jeff Callender and Phillips 66 for their efforts and donation. This is one of many reasons Jeff was selected this month for the mayor’s first Outstanding Citizen Award for his contributions to Ferndale.

Efficiency

Nothing frustrates me and the citizens more than wasted time and money, and there is always something we can each do to improve. That is why your City Hall staff continues to hold weekly Lean meetings to improve operations. This was a tradition started by Mayor Jensen and one I heartily support.

Under the leadership of our Community Development and Public Works staff, our city is updating the administrative and technical aspects of our development standards. That means we are speeding up the process, saving the city and individuals money, and increasing certainty and predictability for developers – savings that can be passed along to home buyers and businesses. This is part of our creed to “find a way to say ‘yes’” to people doing business with the city, while still protecting our city values and small-town quality of life.

Our city remains financially healthy, under the guidance of our new city finance director and our seasoned city administrator. We can’t always do the “extras” (yes, we’d love to have parks department and pool – someday!), but we handle Government 101 very well (safety, planning and public works).

One way we are improving efficiency is the installation of LED streetlights. This project, in partnership with Puget Sound Energy, allows for more controlled lighting on our streets and reduced energy costs for the taxpayers.

We also work with our community partners for new opportunities to make the most of what we have. When the city needed to acquire a piece of property for a future traffic improvement, we made an agreement with Interfaith Coalition to use the existing house as transitional housing.

Most importantly, all your staff (from council members to city administrator) continue to participate in regular and relevant training to improve their service to you.

Community

Our community is growing, but growing smart. Everything from apartments to self-help homes to upscale neighborhoods are being built in Ferndale and we welcome our new neighbors. Part of the reason for the growth is the commitment of our planning department to work with developers on their projects. We never lower our standards for protecting our environment and public infrastructure, but thanks to our innovative zoning and flexibility on design, we are decreasing sprawl and promoting practical infill that works and saves the city future costs.

In honor of his work to promote housing in Ferndale, our Community Development Director Jori Burnett was selected “citizen of the year” by the Whatcom County Association of Realtors. Burnett was instrumental in helping the mayor host a “listening” housing summit last spring, to help us plan for housing needs for the next couple decades.

But community is about so much more than housing. We are so proud of our new Star Park, designed by Ferndale children and built by over 2,000 volunteers last June – making it the largest volunteer event in the history of Whatcom County. We received a Peacebuilder Award from the Whatcom Dispute Resolution Center for our efforts to create community space and we invite everyone to join us June 2 this year for Star Park’s one year anniversary celebration.

Speaking of parks, we are launching a series of recreational activities in our parks this year. We are calling it “Summer of Fun,” and it includes live music in the park, a day of field games, a birdwatching tour and even a citywide treasure hunt. Check out our website or Facebook page for more details.

Community is quality of life, which means you can’t ignore traffic. We are upgrading and recalibrating our street light signalization, and the long-time dream of finishing the Thornton Road overpass is moving towards reality in the next few years, thanks to some state transportation dollars. I am especially grateful that our 42nd District representatives are looking after Ferndale.

This upcoming year we have a slew of projects planned to upgrade our infrastructure, including pavement work on Portal Way and Washington Street, new sidewalks for Cherry Street, a compact roundabout at I-5 exit 263 and the groundwork for a new wastewater treatment plant. We also hope soon to announce some surprise improvements at Pioneer Park. We do all this while keeping costs low to provide the most benefit to our residents.

Transparency

Transparency is more than just an “open door” policy – with the power of social media, we can provide more and better information directly to where people need it. Our communications officer literally works around the clock to communicate to the public about city issues. We also publish nearly everything online; you can check the city website and find out the details of multi-million dollar capital projects and whether or not the mayor had pancakes or eggs on his last trip to Olympia while advocating for the city.

So, yes, things are happening here in Ferndale. It would take another article to list all the new and expanding Ferndale businesses and our upcoming “Ferndale Made” initiative. If you would like to be involved in helping Ferndale, volunteer on one of our boards and commissions. I don’t play political favorites when appointing people, but always look for the best folks who are committed to working together productively for our city.

As we like to say, “Ferndale is open for business” and whether you are looking for a place to live, work, or start a business, you can’t go wrong by checking out Ferndale.

This story was originally published April 7, 2017 at 9:00 AM with the headline "Mayor: Fast-growing Ferndale ‘open for business’."