Members of the Bucoda Town Council convened for their regular monthly meeting on Tuesday, May 13, to discuss a number of agenda items, including consideration of appointing a new councilor.
Among those items included consideration of applicants for a vacant town council position. Ultimately, the decision to appoint someone to the vacancy was tabled until the council’s meeting next month.
Also discussed was a bicycle survey soon to be circulated around town to gauge residents’ cycling needs and consideration of connecting Bucoda to the Yelm-Tenino Trail, and some residents having to change their address numbers.
New councilor consideration
First elected to Bucoda Town Council Position No. 4 in 2023, Michelle Layton recently resigned due to health issues, according to Bucoda Mayor Callie Carpenter. The first item on the agenda for Tuesday’s meeting was consideration of appointment of her replacement.
A notice went out to Bucoda residents announcing the council position vacancy and seeking a letter of interest for any resident wanting to serve on the council. Two residents submitted letters.
“The first one was from Sandy Bade … Basically, she just wrote down that she was interested in joining the town council,” Carpenter said. “She’s out of town doing an orchestra thing with her grandson, so she’s not going to be here tonight. But she is on the planning commission I believe.”
The other resident who submitted a letter of interest was Craig Lester, who was in attendance at the meeting.
“I believe everybody deserves to be represented and I just figured I would take a chance and see,” Lester said when asked why he submitted his letter.
Previously a Tenino resident right up the road, Lester has experience serving on the Tenino City Council. He ran against Cynthia Palm in 2013 for the Tenino position and won in the general election, but did not run for re-election in 2017.
“The (Tenino) mayor at that time was the reason I got involved in politics,” Lester said.
The council then adjourned into executive session.
Following about 15 minutes of deliberation, the council reconvened and unanimously voted to table selecting a new councilor until they were able to interview Bade as well. The Bucoda Town Council meets on the second Tuesday of each month, and the next regular meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, June 10, at 7 p.m.
Layton’s official resignation date was April 8. According to state law, the Town of Bucoda has 90 days to choose Layton’s replacement on the council following the date of her resignation, at which point the Thurston County Board of County Commissioners is required to step in and appoint someone qualified to fill the vacancy.
Bicycle connection survey
In the mayor’s report, Carpenter talked about an upcoming bicycle connection survey card being included in Bucoda residents’ utilities bills in June.
“The survey’s asking questions about bicycling needs. So, this is something where it would be very important for everyone to fill out the survey and basically say we have bicycling needs, because it will also translate to walking paths as well,” Carpenter said. “This would be really helpful to also connect to the Tenino trail as well.”
Connecting the cities of Tenino, Rainier and Yelm, the Yelm-Tenino trail is a 14.5-mile paved path that begins at the intersection of Mosman Avenue Southwest and South First Street in Yelm and ends at Tenino City Park in downtown Tenino. It was built on the path of an old logging railroad track.
Being less than 5 miles south of Tenino would make it easy to connect to the trail as well, and it would give Bucoda residents a safer alternative to walking, running or cycling on state Route 507 — which lacks a sidewalk and bicycle path.
“When we first moved here, my husband and I used to be pretty big runners. You can’t really run down the highway. I mean, you can, but it’s hard not to get hit no matter what time you’re running. And running in town, you kind of wake everybody up with the dog’s barking,” Carpenter said.
While still a runner, Carpenter added she does most of her running on a treadmill now.
Survey results will be used to apply for grant funding to fund a paved trail connecting Bucoda to the Yelm-Tenino trail.
Address changes in town
A Bucoda town ordinance that adjusts the address numbers of a small group of residents to avoid confusion was also approved during Tuesday’s meeting.
“This is making some corrections that have been an issue for at least four years,” Carpenter said.
Affected were two residences on Park Street South and one on River Street, along with two other residences that both had a 201 address number across the street from one another.
The Bucoda Town Council unanimously approved the ordinance.
