During a hard year, Marysville stood together, mayor says

TULALIP — Marysville Mayor Jon Nehring used his annual “State of the City” address to highlight the previous year and give a preview of 2015.

There was the usual news about the city’s projects and finances: “Not flush with cash, but it is healthy,” Nehring told the Greater Marysville Tulalip Chamber of Commerce on Friday.

But 2014 in Marysville was defined by one event that caught everyone by surprise, the Oct. 24 shootings at Marysville Pilchuck High School.

“It really was something that transformed our community. I don’t think anyone expects this kind of thing to happen,” Nehring said.

The shootings left five students dead, including the shooter. One student, Nate Hatch, survived and has become an inspiration to the community, Nehring said.

What Nehring was most impressed with was the response of all the police, firefighters, hospital personnel, city, school and tribal leaders who all rallied together after the shootings.

“From day one, we got out and said we’re standing as one community in this,” Nehring said.

Coming together as a community was an underlying theme of Nehring’s address, from the many projects that were completed in 2014 to initiatives planned for the coming year as well.

Marysville citizens approved by double-digit margins a 0.2 percent sales tax increase in 2014 that will fund nearly $2 million in critical road repairs over the next decade.

Community input led to the idea to build a North Annex police building to allow officers to better serve the north part of the city. The Annex opened in 2014.

The city’s Stay Out of Drug Areas ordinance covers the downtown core — about five percent of the city’s area. It was coupled with a cross-departmental initiative and community outreach. It reduced downtown crime by nearly 20 percent, Nehring said.

The downtown area “used to represent 20 percent of the crime in our city, if you can imagine that,” he said.

Building the spray park in Comeford Park was another success story, attracting 38,000 people over the summer and injecting new life into what had been an underused facility that used to draw drug dealers and other undesirables.

The newly opened Doleshel Park was one more example of city and community working together, he said. The former tree farm was transformed over three years largely by volunteer labor from the local Mormon community.

Other projects moving forward in 2015 include the Qwuloolt Trail, an interpretive trail along the banks of Ebey Slough being built along with the Tulalip Tribes’ Qwuloolt Estuary Restoration Project, and the $35 million project to expand the interchange of Highway 529 and I-5.

The interchange project recently received $5 million in committed construction funds, and most of the permitting is expected to be completed this spring, Nehring said.

He returned to law enforcement, to note the early success of the Regional Property Crime Task Force, a collaborative effort between the cities of Marysville and Lake Stevens, Snohomish County and the Stillaguamish Tribe of Indians. The task force made five arrests in its first week, he said.

The city had a scare on Oct. 15, when a Granite Falls man went on a shooting rampage through that town, Lake Stevens and Marysville, targeting police officers. Marysville Police Sgt. Jim Maple was injured by shrapnel, before the shooter was stopped and arrested.

“When I listen to that 911 call, in this chaos when this guy is going through the city shooting hundreds of bullets…,” Nehring said, “the amount of calm and professionalism that came across from our police officers was truly amazing.”

It was that professionalism that came into play nine days later at Marysville Pilchuck, when the first police were on the scene within two minutes. Ultimately more than 120 police and rescue workers rushed to the scene to try and save the lives of the injured students and keep everyone else safe.

Nehring asked those assembled Friday to keep the families of the victims in their thoughts.

“They have a longer and infinitely more difficult road back than the rest of us. Please remember them,” he said.

Chris Winters: 425-374-4165; cwinters@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @Chris_At_Herald.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

The view of Mountain Loop Mine out the window of a second floor classroom at Fairmount Elementary on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
County: Everett mining yard violated order halting work next to school

At least 10 reports accused OMA Construction of violating a stop-work order next to Fairmount Elementary. A judge will hear the case.

Imagine Children's Museum's incoming CEO, Elizabeth "Elee" Wood. (Photo provided by Imagine Children's Museum)
Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett will welcome new CEO in June

Nancy Johnson, who has led Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett for 25 years, will retire in June.

Kelli Littlejohn, who was 11 when her older sister Melissa Lee was murdered, speaks to a group of investigators and deputies to thank them for bringing closure to her family after over 30 years on Thursday, March 28, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘She can rest in peace’: Jury convicts Bothell man in 1993 killing

Even after police arrested Alan Dean in 2020, it was unclear if he would stand trial. He was convicted Thursday in the murder of Melissa Lee, 15.

Ariel Garcia, 4, was last seen Wednesday morning in an apartment in the 4800 block of Vesper Dr. (Photo provided by Everett Police)
Everett police searching for missing child, 4

Ariel Garcia was last seen Wednesday at an apartment in the 4800 block of Vesper Drive. The child was missing under “suspicious circumstances.”

The rezoned property, seen here from the Hillside Vista luxury development, is surrounded on two sides by modern neighborhoods Monday, March 25, 2024, in Lake Stevens, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Despite petition, Lake Stevens OKs rezone for new 96-home development

The change faced resistance from some residents, who worried about the effects of more density in the neighborhood.

Rep. Suzan DelBene, left, introduces Xichitl Torres Small, center, Undersecretary for Rural Development with the U.S. Department of Agriculture during a talk at Thomas Family Farms on Monday, April 3, 2023, in Snohomish, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Under new federal program, Washingtonians can file taxes for free

At a press conference Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene called the Direct File program safe, easy and secure.

Former Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy Jeremie Zeller appears in court for sentencing on multiple counts of misdemeanor theft Wednesday, March 27, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Ex-sheriff’s deputy sentenced to 1 week of jail time for hardware theft

Jeremie Zeller, 47, stole merchandise from Home Depot in south Everett, where he worked overtime as a security guard.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.