King County Executive Dow Constantine spoke Wednesday at the Bellevue Downtown Association’s monthly membership meeting, marking his first major speaking engagement on the Eastside since being sworn into office Nov. 24.
Constantine vowed during his address at the Bellevue Club to mend ties with suburban and rural parts of the county, and he pledged to appoint a Bellevue representative to the Sound Transit board of directors.
“Bellevue is critical,” he said of the city’s relation to Sound Transit and the East Link light-rail plan.
Constantine also promised to bring down the cost of county government by shrinking the executive staff by 15 percent and by reducing salaries for any remaining positions, including his own.
In an e-mail to The Reporter, Constantine said he would cut his $186,000 executive salary by donating 10 percent of it to county-funded programs – mirroring what eight of the nine county councilmembers did this year.
Constantine outlined goals for his first 100 days in office during the speech, promising to form regional partnerships and reshape the deficit-ridden county government to make it sustainable.
“The era of government by mere good intention is over,” he said. “Starting with meetings like this one today, I’m building partnerships and a blueprint for reform that will lead to fundamental changes to the way King County government does business.”
Constantine promised more government accountability, saying he would foster a “culture of performance” that starts with a program to solicit employee-generated reform ideas and provide incentives for innovation.
The new executive also said he is committed to working with Eastside leaders, pointing out that he appointed former primary opponent Fred Jarrett of Mercer Island as King County deputy executive.
“For too long, King County government has talked too much and not listened enough,” he said. “We have to change that.”
Jarrett, a state senator, has said he will give up his legislative seat before the next legislative session, scheduled to begin the second week of January.
Constantine in his speech also called for scrapping the 40-40-20 model of transit allocation in exchange for a plan that focuses services in areas people live, work, and shop.
“It means putting bus service where it does the most good, to allow people, if they choose, to leave their cars and reduce their carbon emissions,” he said. “That kind of place sounds a lot like downtown Bellevue to me.”
King County Councilmember Jane Hague and Bellevue City Councilmembers Conrad Lee and Kevin Wallace attended the Wednesday meeting.
During a question-and-answer period, one audience member asked the newly-elected executive how he would work with state lawmakers to bring in more revenue for the cash-strapped county.
Constantine said he has talked with legislators about loosening restrictions on existing revenues, such as those generated by the mental illness and drug dependency tax.
Wallace asked the executive about his plans for dealing with the Brightwater waste treatment system and its escalating construction costs, which have compounded the county’s budget problems.
Constantine said he is dismayed that construction costs for the project have risen so much, but said he has assembled a new team to address the issue.
