Mayoral Candidates Share Deep Community Roots

Cheney

The race for Cheney mayor this fall is a contest between two candidates with deep roots in the small university community.

Tom Trulove has been a professor of economics at Eastern Washington University since 1969. He’s a former three-term Cheney mayor. He served on the Northwest Power Planning Council for eight years.

“I’ve had some experience here. I know what’s going on. I can probably do a pretty good job,” Trulove said.

Amy Jo Sooy moved to Cheney with her family in 1945 from the Sprague area. She is a former farmer, real estate agent and restaurant owner. She currently is director of the Cheney Chamber of Commerce.

She’s worked with senior citizens in the community, and said, “They knew me when I was a child.”

Both are stressing the future in this city of 8,000 people, and the need to maintain the vitality of the university.

“We have to look at new ways of doing things,” said Sooy, 64. She wants to cut costs in the delivery of services to keep city utility taxes low.

Trulove, 54, is emphasizing his experience in government and his sense of what Cheney residents want.

“My vision is that of a very calm small town with continuous, but moderate growth,” Trulove said.

Typical of politics in Cheney, the race for mayor has been mostly polite. But the candidates can’t resist some criticisms.

Sooy said her ties with Main Street business people, as well as her regular contact with university officials, gives her a better idea of what citizens want.

“I feel I have a closer relationship with the people than Tom the last few years,” Sooy said.

Trulove’s work on the power council has allowed him to become a consultant in the energy field. He has served on a broad range of civic and government bodies. He is currently a board member on the Municipal Research and Services Center of Washington.

He said Sooy’s background in real estate and business shows that she is more sympathetic to fast growth. Residents of Cheney may not want that, Trulove said.

“She’s more in touch with the downtown chamber group,” he said. “Maybe we just have different friends.

“I don’t think either of us can claim we’re more in touch with the community,” he said.

Trulove said Sooy doesn’t have enough experience to be mayor.

“I don’t think she knows what she’s getting into,” he said.

Both want to encourage a favorable business climate. Sooy said the tax base needs to be expanded.

Trulove wants to reduce the sales tax from 8.1 percent to 7.8 percent to attract new retailers and keep existing ones in Cheney.

The city next year is facing a $300,000 revenue shortage.

The state auditor said Cheney was illegally collecting a 6 percent interfund tax on its Cheney Light electrical customers along with a six percent utility tax, for a combined tax of 12 percent. The city is being forced to reduce the rate to 6 percent.

The city administrator is proposing increases in the taxes on water, sewer and garbage to make up part or all of the loss.

But Sooy said residents are having a hard time paying utility bills as it is. Bills might exceed $140 a month even in the summer.

She wants the city to trim overhead costs to reduce any utility tax increase.

Trulove said the current council will have to make the decision about a tax increase, but without it, the city will have to cut services.

That could mean less snow removal in the winter and a lower level of police protection, he said.

“I don’t think people would put up with that kind of cut,” he said.

Trulove has proposed a 12-point program for his first six months in office, which includes reviews and studies to reduce city operating overhead.

Sooy is calling for better planning as well, including new six-year plans for sewer and water service. She also wants City Council meetings televised on the local cable channel.

Sooy said Trulove’s 12-point plan is too rigid.

“I’ll go in without any preconceived ideas,” she said.

, DataTimes