The Auburn Area Chamber of Commerce and Junior Achievement of Washington hosted a candidate forum Oct. 7 in the Junior Achievement Building just northeast of the Auburn YMCA.
None of the candidates gave the usual cookie-cutter answers one typically hears at these events but highly individualistic responses from the outset. Voters will decide in the Nov. 4 general election whom they will choose to represent them for the next four years.
Auburn Mayor
All government is local, incumbent Nancy Backus began, meaning that at the local level, the day-to-day policies and the services that spring from them, such as public safety, utilities and road maintenance, touch their daily lives more than those that come down from the federal level.
Her campaign emphasizes her experience and leadership. Backus said, and she is proud of being Auburn’s mayor, ensuring that services and communications are delivered to Auburn residents in the best way possible, and keeping people informed as the city goes about its work.
“With so much chaos at the national level, you deserve a mayor with experience and leadership, who knows how to navigate the pitfalls of political divides,” Backus said. “I’ve built strong relationships across the state, this region, and within our city to ensure your voice is heard and respected.”
In her administration, Backus added, her door is always open, and she listens and makes changes whenever and wherever she can.
Yolanda Trout-Manuel, who started serving on the Auburn City Council in 2014, said she is running for mayor because in the past four years she’s seen the city move in a direction that has to change. In those four years, she said, she’s observed that council members haven’t been working together to deal with the crucial issues.
“I didn’t wake up one morning and say, ‘I want to run for mayor.’ I’ve thought about this for seven months, and thought about it, and when I saw that things were getting worse within our council, that is when I decided that I needed to step up,” said Trout-Manuel.
“I was not going to run again. I’ve served (12) years on this council, three years on the planning commission, I’ve been involved nationally, locally and regionally on a lot of committees, and I’ve been the chair of several of them, so I know about leadership. That is why I am stepping up because I do have some experience in this.”
Auburn City Council Position 2
Incumbent Kate Baldwin grew up in a Michigan household that was headed by a single mother, who worked two jobs while caring for Kate, her brother and their great-grandmother.
“That’s a lot to juggle, and we were always on a tight budget. So I grew up often hearing, ‘Kate, this is my last $20 until I get my next paycheck.’ I know that’s a common thing that a lot of people, maybe even some in this room, have had experience with,” she said.
Hard work, she said, can solve a lot of problems, but it doesn’t solve everything.
“We need to have a government and systems that put working families first, so in the time that I’ve been on council, I’ve tried to do that. I’ve tried to make sure that we invest your tax dollars wisely. I make sure that we invite more voices to the table. I make sure that we continue to put more money into services that help everyone, from our youth to our seniors. And at the end of the day, I work to make sure that our decisions respect people who are on their last $20.”
The purpose of local government, challenger Adib Altallal said, is to make every day of its residents’ lives better. He said he believes that the streets and roads people drive on, the sidewalks they walk on, and the water that comes to their houses, all starts with the local government.
So, as a civil engineer, he said, and as somebody who works every day with residents and tries to solve problems, he is more than willing to take on that responsibility as a council member.
“I believe in the mission that the city has, and I believe it needs to be a place where families can put down their roots, where businesses can thrive, and where younger generations can have a future to look forward to. Together, we need to build a city that is not only functional but flourishes and is successful.”
Auburn City Council Position 4 (open seat)
Brian Lott, a project manager for more 30 years, moved to Auburn with his wife in 2019 and decided to run for city council, albeit unsuccessfully, in 2023, and now, he said he is running because the city deserves better than it has gotten. By better, he said, he means full downtown storefronts instead of empty, and safe public places for people to walk.
Having heard from retirees downtown that they’re afraid to walk around downtown, Lott said, he decided that, instead of being one of the people who merely complained, he’d “step up and run for office, and use his skills as a project manager to see if we can solve solve some of these issues that Auburn has.
“Because since I moved here in 2019, I’ve not seen it get any better, so that’s why I am running.”
Erica Tomas has worked for the state Department of Health for seven years. In addition, she said, she is a labor leader who is deeply involved with her union, a shop steward and a member of the council’s e-board. She is also, as of last year, she said, a new mother of a “beautiful baby girl,” whom she is raising to live in Auburn, to grow up in Auburn, to attend Auburn schools, and to consider Auburn her home.
“That’s part of the reason that I am running for council because I want to make sure that she and all of the other children who live here are going to have the best Auburn waiting for them in the future when they are adults, so that they will want to stay and build generations of homes here, and not just run off to wherever the next best opportunity is. Obviously, if she chooses that, that’s great, but I want to make this a place that she’ll want to come back to,” Tomas said.
Auburn City Council, Position 6
Lisa Stirgus, whom the city council appointed last April to fill the remainder of former councilmember Larry Brown’s term, told the audience she is running now to “earn your vote for a full, four-year term.”
“Anyone who knows me would say that I’m a proud mama bear to the most amazing daughter on the planet,” Stirgus said. “I love my husband, even when he leaves his socks clumped up in a ball on the floor. I’m … a fiercely loyal daughter, niece, friend, and favorite auntie to all of my nieces and nephews, who always has everyone’s back when they need me.”
As someone who has overcome just about every type of life challenge one can think of, Stirgus continued, she feels her life experiences have shaped her to possess an abnormal level of gratitude and empathy.
“I show up every single day with a can-do attitude. I know that my leadership experience in my professional career has helped me… My leadership strengths and style help advance progress and engagement in our city. I know that I am a bridge builder, even in my short period of time in office, and I look forward to continuing to be able to bring that value added.”
Cobi Clark, a former real estate developer who has built several hundred homes in Washington state, said that over the course of his 10-to15-year long career, it became clear to him that it was getting harder and harder to build housing, and that, if things didn’t change. his kids weren’t going to be able to own a house in the same way he does.
Likewise, he said, it became apparent to him that politics was becoming “more about how to take a share of the pie,” and give it to one’s friends, on both sides of the aisle. “More about taking and redistributing than about growing the pie,” which he called “just antithetical to the American dream.”
“I am running a growth campaign. I think we need to get politics back to a place where we can focus on growing the pie for everyone, and creating an environment of abundance, where we can all have houses, and we can all live a good life … without having to argue with each other all the time. My campaign focuses on creating new housing, defending and protecting civil rights and the rule of law, and streamlining economic development.”
