New Kirkland City Manager Kurt Triplett has a lot of issues to deal with in the next five years including annexation, the redevelopment of Totem Lake Mall and a budget deficit. The Reporter sat down with Triplett to discuss his plans and vision for the City of Kirkland.

Q: What do you think the city’s No. 1 focus should be as far as development is concerned?

A: You know, I think there are two key things to focus on. The first one is, as the Mayor says, making sure that we are open for business and that we really create an environment where we are proactive, responsive and flexible to allow that development to occur. I think you saw that with the Kirkland City Council action to change the way appeals go from the Design Review Board to the hearing examiner. A big push to be predictable, to be responsible and to be flexible, is really critical because we need the development to create those jobs and bring the economic prosperity here in order to provide all the services that the city and the community expects.

Q: How do you think the annexation transition is going?

A: You know it is actually going quite well. It is a big deal to bring 33,000 new residents into a city that is only 48,000. I have been very impressed since I got here with how much planning has gone on. One of the things that we have focused very hard on – and this happened before I got here and it has also been my emphasis since I got here – is to make sure that we are providing an excellent level of service to the annexation area, far better than the county was able to provide. At the same time, we need to make sure that it does not come at the expense of the services in the existing city.

We have a big presentation to the city council (Tuesday, after Reporter deadline) and I think we have hit that target where we will serve both communities well. When June 1 does come I think everybody will be very pleased with the process and the way in which we have been integrating the two communities. I am very excited about that.

Q: Some people are concerned with the cost of annexation. What would you tell them?

A: We share that concern and it has been a key focus of ours to make sure that the annexation is a benefit to the city and does not come at the expense of the existing Kirkland citizens, and the budget reflects that. What we are going to be doing over time is that we will be bringing up the annexation area services to a level that is commensurate with what the existing Kirkland levels are.

But again, first and foremost, we also want to assure the residents in the annexation area that what they are going to see from Kirkland on day one is going to be far better service than what they saw from King County. I think we have really struck that balance and what you’re going to see over time is that it will be a net positive for the existing city. It has been often said, but it bares repeating, that Kirkland is a city that has been built by annexation. I think it is going to make Kirkland even greater, not just in size, but also in its regional profile and the way it shows leadership in the community. Overall, I think people are going to find it to be a good thing. But there are certainly growing pains and challenges and things that have to be addressed, but that is our top focus.

Q: How do you plan to help facilitate the redevelopment of Totem Lake Mall?

A: Totem Lake Mall is something that every council member raised in my initial conversations. One of the main challenges is that currently we are waiting on decisions by the current owners. The city is not in charge of that process – it requires the private sector to also make decisions. But, we are pulling together a new Totem Lake symposium, which I believe we have slated for October … where not only are we going to continue to get the current process unstuck but we are also going to have another opportunity to envision what else can happen.

One of my tasks from the city council was really to aggressively pursue at the federal, at the state level and the county level opportunities that come from that urban area designation. We are going to be pushing hard for transportation dollars, for housing dollars, anything that can help. We need to do better while we are waiting on the big issues to get these things done and keep showing small progress.

Look for part 2 of the Reporter’s Q&A with new Kirkland City Manager Kurt Triplett next week.