Legislators in Bothell and Kenmore recently held day-long retreats with a common goal being to determine what direction they will take in the coming year. One result is a list of priorities created by both councils.

Bothell

Some of the items on the minds of this city’s leaders no doubt will sound familiar.

According to Mayor Mark Lamb and others, those items include furthering the downtown revitalization and revisiting the annexation of Bothell’s urban growth area in Snohomish County.

Councilman Tom Agnew also mentioned revamping oversight of the city’s park and recreation activities. Still, one goal will possibly garner the most attention from the public, namely a review of Bothell’s safety forces.

Agnew several times emphasized officials have not spotted any specific shortcomings in the current condition of the safety forces. He added Bothell’s annexation hopes undoubtedly necessitate a review of its police and fire services.

At the same time, Agnew talked about police forces being stretched, with call volumes having increased steadily over the last several years. He said that partly with the potential annexation in mind, now seems an opportune time to study staffing levels. He also talked about improving response times.

“Public safety is job No. 1, protecting our citizens is job No. 1,” Lamb said. He added that the events of last year — referring to the deaths of several Seattle-area police officers — brought safety issues to the forefront.

“I think you want to make sure you’re deploying your forces as well as possible,” Lamb added.

He also mentioned officials may have identified some capital needs in the Bothell fire department.

Lamb talked a lot about relaunching the annexation process, which was blocked in June by a unanimous vote of the Snohomish County Boundary Review Board (BRB).

At the time, several issues rose to the surface, but the biggest stumbling block seemed to be concern among BRB members regarding Bothell’s ability to provide fire services to the targeted neighborhoods.

Snohomish County fire districts 1 and 7 both serve the currently unincorporated annexation area north of the city’s present boundary. Officials from both districts formally objected to Bothell’s annexation plans and Lamb admitted local leaders may have been caught off-guard by the districts’ reactions.

“I think we need to engage in some deep conversations with the fire districts,” Lamb stated.

Lamb indicated a change in state law could allow Bothell to move forward with the annexation without a public vote of the affected residents. He said it was premature to say whether or not Bothell officials would move in that direction. If a public vote is called for, Lamb also declined to say whether that vote would happen this year or in 2011.

Kenmore

As is the case with their Northshore neighbor, some of the priorities of Kenmore officials are not too surprising.

Mayor David Baker and others said topping the list is a continuation of the search for state or federal funding to complete renovations to State Route 522 between 60th Avenue Northeast and 65th Avenue Northeast.

Councilwoman Laurie Sperry also talked about trying to find a new operator for the Carole Ann Wald Pool in St. Edward State Park; pushing for the general economic development of the city; and improving Kenmore’s parks and recreational offerings.

Also as in Bothell, local officials plan to study their safety forces in anticipation of a coming annexation. In this instance, the annexation is being done by another municipality, namely Kirkland.

As have other officials in the past, Sperry said when Kirkland annexes its assigned urban growth area, the King County Sheriff’s office will stop patrolling those streets on a regular basis. Kenmore long has contracted with King County for police services. Having fewer county officers roaming streets in what is now unincorporated Kirkland essentially means fewer officers will be in the vicinity of Kenmore and available in case of emergency.

According to Sperry, the potential problem is not an acute one. She expects council to consider the issue slowly, possibly taking a year or more to make any changes.

“Public safety is our biggest, most important contract by far… We don’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves.”

In the past, Kenmore leaders have talked about a number of possible options, including contracting for police service with some neighboring city.

Regarding the Wald pool, Baker said he and other councilmembers are very much aware of what he called strong public support for reopening the building, closed since the end of December.

“We want to take leadership on the pool… That’s extremely important to the council,” Baker said.

State officials had announced plans to solicit proposals from potential new pool operators, but it’s unclear when that call might go out.

On still another front, Kenmore’s council plans to cancel its first regular meeting of each month for at least six months, Baker said. It started by canceling a session set for early February. The idea is to give city administrators extra time to respond to council decisions and requests.

“We’re going to try it… and see what happens,” Baker continued.