Kirkland City Manager Dave Ramsay was hired while the city was still ramping up services for the annexed areas of Rose Hill and South Juanita about 12 years ago. He has overseen the day-to-day workings of the city during that time, including changes to the downtown area, city staff, city hall expansion and the recent annexation that will nearly double the size of the city. The Reporter recently caught up with Ramsay, who will retire from the position on April 2.

What has been the most challenging aspect of this job?

The challenging aspect is to try to, in the biggest sense, balance resources with expectations. We pride ourselves on being a high quality city with excellent customer service, progressive and responsible. So there is no shortage of good ideas that the staff has, that the council thinks about or the community expects. This is a very knowledgeable, progressive community. But then how does one balance resources – and particularly ones that are sustainable. Because what we have found is that during the good times that you are able to do some good exciting things. But then when these recessions come along you have to make some really tough decisions about what you are and aren’t going to do. It is just a constant balancing act of resources and expectations.

What was your plan for the City of Kirkland coming in and what was and wasn’t accomplished?

I’ll start with development and then get to the organization. There were two areas of focus when I came to town: One was Totem Lake Mall and the other was downtown. Totem Lake Mall was exactly what you see today. It’s just an under performing space that has gotten worse and worse with tremendous potential. Being in that area with all the activity, the hospital, the freeway exposure, proximity to Redmond and the north, is just ideal. I was determined to see that turned around. We worked really hard and did a lot of zoning changes. We told the new owner that we were willing to invest up to $15 million in infrastructure to be supportive. Luckily, we didn’t do that but we made it (the money) available. During the great economic years we thought that we had gotten a winner. Coming to town, that was the thing I wanted to do. Leaving town, it is the number one disappointment.

Also, when I came to town, there was a lot of controversy and angst in our downtown. There was a moratorium put in place, there were lawsuits and there was a lot of overall angst. I set about trying to bring parties together, come up with a common vision and a strategy for downtown development. And we spent three or four years in this great process. We developed a really elegant plan called the “Downtown Strategic Plan” and we began to implement it. In fact, what you see around town now, much of that was envisioned in the plan and is still taking place. The Transit Center was a part of that plan, along with what you see with the Bank of America building. However, we have only realized, I would say, less than half of its potential. We ran into a very controversial project at the corner of Lake and Central and (the plan) kind of came to a grinding halt. That affected the really great idea coming out of the downtown plan. The star of the show was the Lake Shore Plaza. It would reorient Marina Park, and the buildings around it, to the lake. The theme that we adopted during the Downtown Strategic Plan was that we have turned our back on the lake. And if you think about it, we have a priceless view and location. But if you were to drive along Central or Lake you may not even know the lake is there cause the buildings block it. We had an exciting idea to put a deck out on that parking lot, have it connect to Marina Park and have all the buildings opening out to that deck. I hope that those ideas can one day be revisited. They are great ideas. There is a title to a book “Good is the enemy of great.” In the summer time, when the sun is out, it is a wonderful downtown and really cooks. During the winter months the retailers struggle. We need to revitalize downtown and not make it so weather dependent.

You see right now in Houghton the Metropolitan Market (being built), that was supposed to be on the corner of Lake and Central. You can imagine what that would do to the downtown in terms of life and bringing people down on a regular basis.

And then with the organization, I was blessed to inherit just a first class organization (the City of Kirkland). My plan was to take that good organization and make it even better and I feel really good about what we have accomplished. We have an outstanding staff and great customer service. We are involved regionally, in the state and federal; just first class and highly productive. I feel really good about that.

What do you consider your biggest accomplishment?

In the broadest sense the development of this high performance organization. We have a great staff and relationships throughout the region. But there is a whole series of projects that I take pride in as well. My favorite project of all is probably Heritage Hall, which was done with some controversy at the time. It has just become a gem as it relates to Heritage Park.

We did a park bond in 2002 that just set in motion a full string of projects like the acquisition of Juanita Beach Park, we purchased McAuliffe Park, Carillon Wood Park and developed that. Kirkland is known for its parks system and I would like to think that during my time we have continued to build on that tradition. It is a series of projects and just the overall organization.

What was your lowest moment?

I think clearly the defeat of the Lake and Central project. It not only was the loss of the project that was a bitter pill to swallow, but it really sucked all the energy out of the Downtown Strategic Plan itself. That was probably the lowest point.

How much more challenging is the current annexation than the Rose Hill, North Juanita annexation in 1988?

(The 1988 annexation) had largely been put into place when I got here, but we were still ramping up a bit. My sense is that this will be more challenging. Number one, the numbers are bigger. But number two, the economics are more difficult. With South and North Rose Hill you had business districts that generate sales tax and revenue that supported the annexation. It paid for itself. With the three areas to our north, they don’t. Luckily, we have the state sales tax to help us get through the next 10 years. But we are going to have to figure it out. They did not have the commercial districts to come along with them. And they pointed out, and very rightly so, it’s because we have already taken it. We took Juanita Village and Totem Lake ahead of the annexation. So, through no fault of their (residents in Finn Hill, Kingsgate and North Juanita) own they quote “don’t pay for themselves.” We have, in effect, cherry picked various areas. The numbers are bigger and the economics are tougher. I think there will be some bigger challenges.

There were some challenges with North Rose Hill, at least I heard them when I came in the door. We did not quickly ramp up our services to meet the need, particularly in police services. We were playing catchup there for, oh, 10 years. This time we committed to have those police officers available on day one. So that only made the economics more difficult because we are ramping up as we speak. It takes 18 months to go through the selection process in hiring and training. So we are incurring costs now that we are not getting revenues for. It is simply a down payment. But we think we are better prepared once we get through it.

What would you say to those people who criticize the fact that you took this job as one of the highest paid city managers in the region and then hired a lot of support staff?

When you come into a job you take a look at where the market is, what would be comparable. I was on the higher end when I came in, and if you look at it now, I am right in the middle. So things tend to even out. Our policy is to pay the average. In terms of this office, we have expanded certain functions that didn’t have any other place to go so they came here. We have the court, a public information officer, we have neighborhood services; but each one of those are important city functions. Those are simply functions that needed a home. For example, we could have put the court in finance, and it was for a while. Neighborhood services could be in planning. Public information officer could be with the city clerk. I would say each of those are important service areas and this office by default ended up managing them. Another one is economic development and the top city priority is to grow our economy.

Look at what those people are doing. Are they addressing an important city goal? (Don’t look at) which office they are in.

What advice would you have for the next city manager?

On the financial side we have got to focus on a sustainable budget. We have got to get our level of service and our revenues, that we can depend on, matching up. This very progressive city, that likes to be responsive, needs to make sure that the foundation of our finances is solid. I would encourage an extensive listening tour throughout the community with neighborhood leaders, business leaders, city staff and non-profit organizations. There is a great deal of resources and interest here and I think the key is getting to know people by building relationships that can then take the community further. That is what I tried to do. I think the new person is going to come in with new ideas, a new level of energy, but needs to have those relationships on which to draw upon. And those relationships go beyond this community, regionally. We benefited a lot from working with neighboring cities on a variety of efforts.

Is there a parting message you would like to give the citizens of Kirkland?

This is a great town. We are all going through some challenging times but we will get through it. Enjoy the community and get involved. This is a wonderful community but it is going to need involvement throughout and the city can’t be expected to do it all. A good example is the green Kirkland effort. Pulling blackberries is fun, it’s therapeutic and it makes a difference. But that is just one example. The other day we saw the Heathman Hotel step up and adopt Heritage Park. That is an example of a business getting involved.

What do you plan to do after April 2?

That is a good question. I really don’t know. It is really liberating and disconcerting. I have always had a plan. What I would like to do is get involved in a non-profit, in something that interests me. For example, smart growth and walking advocacy and some human services areas. And whether I would go to work for them or volunteer I don’t know. I would also like to do some consulting. And, hopefully, have some fun. I like to fly fish, walking and kayaking. I still want to stay active, whether that is working or volunteering or both and having some fun.