The view from Langley

All mayors love their towns and champion them. Surely that is the case in La Conner.

The same with Langley, that “village by the sea,” a 90 minute drive from our town on the Swinomish Channel.

Comparisons abound. There will be a side-by-side table in a future issue. Did you know their 1,200 residents fit in one mile footprint while La Conner’s 974 residents squeeze into 0.4 square miles? Those numbers come from censusreporter.org.

While Mayor Ramon Hayes was first elected in 2007, Langley Mayor Scott Chaplin was appointed in 2021 when the then mayor moved out of the city. But this is not a tale of two mayors, or even of two cities. It is a view based on a day in Langley and a conversation with Chaplin. He shared hopes and plans as much as facts and accomplishments. Read the page 1 story.

The website summary of Langley’s government reads like it could be La Conner’s:

“The City of Langley has a Mayor-Council form of government. The City Council is the legislative branch of city government and the Mayor is the executive branch responsible for city administration. The City Council sets policy with the Mayor responsible for policy implementation and overseeing the daily operations of the City.

“Five Council members are elected at-large to staggered four-year terms. The Council enacts ordinances and resolutions, holds public hearings, approves development plans, receives citizen suggestions and complaints, authorizes payment of City funds, approves contracts, creates committees and boards to assist in the operation of city government, and much more.”

Langley’s mayor is the city’s administrator. Chaplin terms it a strong mayor system. The La Conner mayor’s responsibilities are posted on the Town’s website:

“The Mayor hires and oversees the work of the Town Administrator and each of the Town’s four department heads and two contracted departments. The Mayor assures that the Town’s human and financial resources are managed to effectively address Town policies and procedures, in a responsible and accountable fashion.

“The Mayor chairs Town Council meetings and can break ties of the Council but cannot veto a Council decision.”

Langley has an almost year old ad hoc Climate Crisis Action Committee, formed after the council passed a resolution declaring a climate emergency. Its mission is “to promote, finance and implement rapid, just, and measurable actions and advocacy that fully meet the scale and urgency of the climate crisis.”

A group of La Conner residents have formed the Skagit Valley Clean Energy Cooperative. Its goal is to encourage energy innovation, using locally available resources. While Councilmembers MaryLee Chamberlain and Mary Wohleb participate, the venture is private, not endorsed or directed by the town government. At least not yet.

Langley has a slew of other boards, commissions and committees, including the Design Review Board, Dismantling Systemic Racism Commission and the Historic Preservation Commission. That is not nearly a complete list, only several flavors. There are also several disbanded and inactive panels. That shows the ebb and flow of a community’s priorities.

There is also the Planning Advisory Board and Parks and Open Spaces Commission. Their Arts Commission is inactive. These three line up with La Conner institutions.

This summary is informational, not advisory or competitive. There are lots of ways to slice and dice the interactions and workings of a small community, lots of facts, hopes and opinions to pick through.

In every community opportunities await. The times necessitate involvement. The future demands solutions.

There is a big world out there beyond the Rainbow Bridge and roundabout.