Largo Wales, former director of ACAP Child and Family services, is confident she has many things to contribute to the Auburn City Council.
On Tuesday, Wales declared her intention to run by filing forms with the state’s Public Disclosure Commission.
“I have some areas where I think I can make some contributions to the effectiveness of our City government,” Wales said.
Wales said she will run for Position 1, now held by Sue Singer. Singer is not seeking re-election, but she has agreed to serve as Wales’ campaign treasurer.
Wales’ kickoff fundraiser begins at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, April 28 at Café Pacific on Auburn Way North. The official filing period for public office is in June.
Wales said she believes her many experiences have given her a real feeling of some of the community needs out there, experience that incluces work with the Auburn School District, ACAP and many volunteer activities. She has served as president of Auburn Youth Resources, the Auburn Food Bank and the Kiwanis.
At the start of her career, Wales taught first grade at Brookdale Elementary in the Franklin Pierce School District. She came to Auburn in 1982 to be the director of elementary curriculum and special education for the Auburn School District. She retired from that position in 2000.
After Wales’ retirement, she worked with the Orting and Puyallup school districts. She served as executive director of ACAP from 2008 to Aug. 20, 2010, a tumultuous period that saw the organization move from its longtime home in Les Gove Park to the former White River Presbyterian Church.
Today she teaches two days a week at Mt. Baker Middle School and “is loving it.”
Her campaign motto is “building community”.
“It’s a three-fold platform,” Wales explained. “The first one is we’ve got to build the infrastructure in our business base. You can’t do anything without revenue. The second focus is communication. I’m a real positive person. I don’t dwell on what hasn’t worked. I’m a problem solver.
“We have some great things going on, even now in this downturn in Auburn, that people don’t know about,” Wales said. “We have to come up with more effective ways to share that, to build on our successes and capacity, and this will allow us to provide a more enriched and solid community for our citizens. There’s some great things in the wind to help with traffic. There’s a purpose behind these additional traffic lights. There’s building plans, financing of the plaza, and if the general population knew more about these things, I think they would be extremely excited about the future.”
Wales has a bachelor’s degree in child development from Washington State University, a master’s degree in education from the University of Puget Sound, and an Ed.D degree — comparable to a Ph.d — from Seattle University in leadership and business. She has taken numerous bargaining and business classes and has earned a paralegal degree from Highline Community College. She has also done post-doctoral work at Columbia University in New York.
“I am a good problem solver, and I am a positive person, and I like to build capacity in the organizations I’m associated with and the people I work with,” said Wales. “I think that Auburn is on the cusp of some really great changes. I believe that, economically, things are beginning to come around, and this is going to be the time, after we’ve tightened our belt, that we need to be really thrifty and build infrastructure so we can get the City’s economy going and provide services for our citizens.”