One thing that the community has been asking me about is the status of the August sand sculpture competition. I’ll dive into that at another time because at this moment, it’s more important to note what the city of Federal Way did to make this event a success in 2011.

Most of the time the city gets beat up for everything. It takes too long to get a permit, red light cameras, cameras in school zones, and construction on Pac Highway, to name a few. The list is long and presumably somewhat deserved.

Contrarily, what you don’t hear is what the city does correctly. This is not a unique situation. You only hear about the car when it is non-functional, not when it worked perfectly for the last 79,000 miles. You only give the kids grief for the D on the report card, not for the other five A’s and B’s they received. I suppose to some degree this is a part of human nature. Those of you that have risen above this, I applaud you. For the majority of us though, actions are worth a note. This note comes full circle to the city of Federal Way and its staff.

You see, the sand event is run by a bunch of volunteers. Almost all of us have a day job that requires the majority of our attention. Because the sand event is a volunteer effort, it comes at you fast. Generally nothing gets done for 10 months. The sands of time continue to run and within 60 days everything comes together. The city on some level must understand this, as they are there to assist. Every department made sure we had what we needed. From accounting to administration to the parks, surface, police and even the fire district. All were there. They helped us with permitting, getting garbage disposal, park benches, stages, etc.

This starts with your leader, Skip Priest. To be fair, The Mirror has at times been fairly critical of Mayor Priest. This is a newspaper’s primary job. I demand this of my team to make sure that we are the watchdogs of your community government. In this watch there are times when the pendulum swings the other way. This requires the same amount of watch. I am impressed with the way that the city council and the mayor have come together during this time of governmental switch to create a bonding and cohesive work environment.

This begins with your leader and permeates throughout the entire city structure. It showed during the sand event. He gave us the tools and manpower to pull off this world class event. Your city council members visited the site during setup, the event itself and tear down to ask if there was anything that could be done. This included the council members that personally voted against the project. They believe that differences should be set aside when the whole votes in affirmation. This is a strong characteristic in a leader that is generally not found in a politician (see the other Washington as an example). The city staff called frequently to ask if we needed anything. Cary Roe, director of public works and parks, along with his staff went out of their way to make sure issues were ironed out, even when there were some last minute items that cropped up to create a little strife.

It is times like these that I am proud to work and be a part of Federal Way. I believe the same can be said of your elected officials and their staff. Actions speak louder than words. Their actions are deafening. I am listening. Are you?