Candidates for four Federal Way City Council positions and three Federal Way School Board positions discussed local issues on Oct. 11 at Federal Way High School’s auditorium ahead of the November general election.

City Council

Three outside candidates are attempting to oust incumbents in this year’s city council races.

Mark Greene is running against incumbent Lydia Assefa-Dawson for council position 1. Greene said the defining moment he decided to run for office was because of the council’s decision to close the skate park at Steel Lake. He stated he will push for a larger police force and his plan for a “pristine” Federal Way.

Roger Flygare is running against incumbent and current Deputy Mayor Susan Honda for council position 3. He leaned heavily on his work of pounding the pavement to knock on a self-reported over 10,000 doors in Federal Way. He said that it’s been community opinion that “the candidate that you want to see on the city council is someone who’s going to keep our community safe,” and that he is ready to deliver.

Katherine Festa is running against incumbent Jack Walsh for council position 5. She said she is a pro-union candidate and a pro-LGBTQ+ candidate. She is committed to a “health through housing” approach to homelessness and wants to fight against fentanyl, a drug that killed her daughter.

Linda Kochmar is running for re-election to council position 7 and was unopposed at the Oct. 11 forum. Her stated opponent, Denise Yun, has made multiple conflicting statements about her intentions to continue to run after an occurrence of theft became public.

Crime

All council candidates agreed that crime is an important issue. The topic of increasing police forces came up multiple times and current council members noted that a million-dollar increase was approved to increase staffing, but that they are struggling to replace retiring officers fast enough to see an actual increase in numbers.

Two unique proposals came from Mark Greene, who suggested adding “500 volunteer deputies” to help police with their patrols. He did not mention what training or qualifications these volunteers would have, aside from background checks. His other strategy is to “bring religion back into schools, as long as it’s constitutional,” and get rid of “gangster rap.”

Katherine Festa said one recent improvement is that the police chief hired a behavioralist to support officers and that this is something officers are asking for, saying “they want someone to help.”

Several policy-related comments focused on laws around pursuit and drug possession. Jack Walsh shared that due to a recent shift in pursuit policy, there was a successful apprehension of a carjacking suspect just the day before.

At least 60 community members attended the debates at Federal Way High School for Federal Way City Council and Federal Way School Board candidates with more tuning in via a livestream on The Mirror’s Facebook page.

Homelessness and housing

Several questions came up related to homelessness and housing.

Lydia Assefa-Dawson noted that homelessness is a big issue not only here but also “in our county, state, and nationally.” She said it is important to build pathways to high paying jobs, with apprenticeships as an example. She also noted that while “the city is not in the business of providing housing,” they are responsible with the task to “come up with the policies and the zoning that drive this issue.” She mentioned that we need to examine the whole spectrum of housing stock that we have available in Federal Way, from housing for the homeless all the way to market rate housing, and find the gaps.

Mark Greene commented on the affordability issue, stating that we need to “change the architecture so that apartments are really affordable.”

Katherine Festa brought up mixed income housing and avoiding creating “projects.” She supports a health through housing model, following success in Houston, Texas, and other places that have used this strategy. Getting people housed as a first step will “help get some of our drug addicts off the street and get them clean and sober, help them get jobs, have wraparound services, and become taxpaying citizens like the rest of us,” she said. She also advocated for permanent supportive housing, especially for people with intellectual disabilities.

Jack Walsh said that there are two main problems that have a lot of overlap — homelessness, especially that related to drug use and mental health challenges, and then the separate topic of a general lack of available housing. He said its important to enforce drug laws to get people “in front of a judge” so they can be asked “do you want to go to jail or do you want to go to rehab?” He said he supports a health through housing model only “if supportive housing provided that the inhabitants are held to a standard of living by actually receiving treatment.” He added that enabling those dealing with substance abuse “is not compassion.”

Roger Flygare said in his role as the commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars post in Auburn, they have worked to build tiny homes for veterans and that this is one option. He also said we need to encourage people to take advantage of the option of building Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) on their property to increase available housing options.

He also used a business in Auburn called Orion as an example of a successful program, citing the combination of worker retraining and housing as great way to help people get on a more positive path.

Susan Honda spoke on her role as co-chair of the Women and Children’s Homeless Initiative that led to the founding of the FUSION family shelter. “We do have one shelter, but we need more,” she stated. She also encouraged the utilization and encouragement of ADUs.

Linda Kochmar mentioned the Day Center and encampments in the woods as issues that enable drug use and that more low income housing is needed. She also stated that she supports creating “workforce housing” adding that “many of our police officers and our teachers can’t afford to live here.”

Federal Way PAEC

One question specifically asked candidates about their opinion on the current structure for the management of the Performing Arts and Event Center (PAEC). All candidates agreed that an Request For Proposals (RFP) should have been completed before the current management came on board because that is the best practice for public assets. They all said that one is needed now if possible. RFPs take about two years, so Susan Honda proposed signing a two-year contract with the current group and opening up the opportunity for nonprofits and others to indicate interest as well.

Photo by Keelin Everly-Lang / The Mirror School board candidates answer questions from the audience at the debate on Wednesday. School board candidates from left to right: Daniel Kukhar, Jennifer Jones, Luckisha Phillips, Gavin Downing and Joan Marie Murphy.

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School board

Five school board candidates answered questions about banning books, transparency within the district, their opinions on the youth jail and youth incarceration, and more.

Jennifer Jones has served on the Federal Way Public Schools Board since May 2019 and is running for re-election to school board position 2. Her opponent is a Daniel Kukhar, who is seeking election for the first time.

Luckisha Phillips has served on the school board since October 2018. She is running for re-election to board position 3. The other listed candidate for the position, Christopher Dowllar, was not in attendance.

Gavin Downing and Joan Marie Murphy are running for position 3, recently held by Hiroshi Eto, who has served on the Federal Way Public Schools Board since June 2014.

Priorities

For position 2, Jones shared a vision of ensuring the quality of schools through the support given to educators and Federal Way Public Schools staff. She also highlighted the role of schools in building a foundation for the community for the future.

“When you graduate from high school, that is not the end of your education. Whether you go on to the military, or you go on to training, or go on to an apprenticeship program, or college, the rest of your life you’ll be learning. And the foundation that we build for our young people here in Federal Way is going to last in the rest of their lives.”

Her opponent, Dan Kukhar, stated that he is running to make sure “virtue” is a priority in schools. In his closing statement, he also mentioned that students should be taught life skills specifically around loans and taxes.

Luckisha Phillips shared that she will continue to focus on family engagement and special education if re-elected for position 3.

Gavin Downing said that student achievement is a priority and that a first step he would take would be restoring full-time teacher librarians in all schools.

“There are dozens of national studies that have really shown that there’s a direct correlation between access to a strong library program and student achievement across the board in every subject area,” Downing shared as his reason for this focus.

Joan Marie Murphy said her priority is to “establish a positive mindset with every kiddo,” but was not particularly specific about her vision, mentioning inspirational posters and access to National Geographic magazines as two examples to remind scholars that “there’s a big world out there and they are part of it.”

Books

In a question about their position on banning inappropriate books in schools, Jones, Philips, Downing and Murphy all emphasized trusting librarians and district guidelines. Philips mentioned a balance of “safety and fun,” Murphy commented on not including “sexually explicit” material in schools, and Downing said that he supports intellectual freedom through bringing full-time librarians to every school that can get to know their students and curate a collection of books that serves their needs. He also added that “it’s really important to also keep in mind that these book banning efforts are really about silencing the voices of communities that are already being marginalized. And that’s why it’s really important that we listen to those communities and we stand up and we say no to book bans.”

Kukhar said that “books are banned sometimes,” using the example of books that include “hate speech” or those that shouldn’t be read because of “certain things.” Ultimately he said he is one voice and if a majority support doing something, that is what he will do.

Additional topics

The school board candidates also discussed the imminent closure of a youth jail. While the school board doesn’t have any direct power over this, candidates in general agreed that safety in schools is a priority.

Candidates also highlighted meeting the needs of our diverse community served by Federal Way Public Schools, especially when it comes to language access for the over 150 languages spoken by families here.

Photos by Keelin Everly-Lang / The Mirror School board candidates from left to right: Daniel Kukhar, Jennifer Jones, Luckisha Phillips, Gavin Downing and Joan Marie Murphy.