Wagner to pursue another term on City Council

Auburn City Councilman Rich Wagner announced today he will seek election to a fifth term.

The general election is Nov. 3.

“I will focus on sensible financial decisions such as taxes and spending by the City,” said Wagner, who has served on the Council since 1990. “The City must be more efficient while still providing public services and making only those urgent public investments that will improve our economic situation and our quality of life.”

Wagner said he has been a strong advocate for Auburn citizens on many inter-governmental cooperative projects that have cut costs and improved services, among them police special units, fire department cooperation, transportation projects, transit service, veterans’ services, cultural enhancements, drinking water supplies, environmental protection, waste collection, sanitary sewers, library improvements and parks development.

Wagner said he has always made the policies of neighborhood protection and community character preservation a high priority, especially during the annexations of Lea Hill and West Hill.

Wagner, who chairs the Public Works Committee and the Community Center Committee, is also a member of the Planning and Community Development Committee. He serves on the Metropolitan Solid Waste Management Advisory Committee, the Regional Access Mobility Partnership, and the Puyallup River Watershed Forum. He has previously served as a member of the City Council Committees on Municipal Services and Finance.

Wagner has a degree in mechanical engineering from Washington State University and a degree in engineering from Santa Clara University. He is retired from Weyerhaeuser where he worked in research and development of building products.

Wagner and his wife, Kay, have lived in Auburn for 31 years. They have four adult children, and all of them graduated from the Auburn school system.

Diagnosed with leukemia in 2003, Wagner said that the problem is completely resolved.

“I am in better health now than before the illness,” Wagner said.

Also up for re-election on the City Council are Gene Cerino and Nancy Backus.

Gene Cerino was elected to the Council in 1995. Cerino is the chair of the Municipal Services Committee and serves on the as vice chair for Public Works Committee.

Backus was first appointed to the Auburn City Council in 2003, elected to serve a two-year term from 2004 to 2005, and was then re-elected to her second term in 2006. Backus serves as vice chair of Planning and Community Development and is chair of the Finance Committee.