The year 2011 was one of significant accomplishment in spite of the city of Pullman’s continuing financial challenges.  In difficult periods, the focus is all too often on the problems and too little recognition is given to the continuing progress that is being made within the community.  In 2011 projects were completed that made important improvements to the city’s infrastructure and plans were undertaken for accommodating Pullman’s future growth.

Leading the way in terms of city infrastructure improvements was the North Grand Avenue widening and pedestrian enhancement project.  This project provided for the widening of Grand Avenue to five lanes from Nye Street to the bridge over Missouri Flat Creek near UPS.  Other aspects of the project included the construction of a pedestrian bridge over Missouri Flat Creek and new path/sidewalk connections.  Channel improvements were also made in Missouri Flat Creek to reduce the possibilities of future flooding.  In the past, Grand Avenue has been closed due to Missouri Flat Creek overflowing its banks.  The project was undertaken on a tight schedule due to the concern about impacting traffic when WSU was in session.  Thankfully, the project was completed ahead of schedule.

Other notable projects included the improvement to the “B” Street sidewalk that provides a safe and widened access to this heavily-used pedestrian access to the WSU campus.  The sidewalk was widened from four feet to seven feet between California Street and Michigan Street.  Noteworthy street improvements included the resurfacing of the important access corridor to Pioneer Hill along Rocky Way and South Street.  A federal grant also helped pay for a major improvement and expansion of the city’s Equipment Rental Division (ERD) shop.  Pullman Transit was also notified that it received a federal grant for three new hybrid buses and WSU provided colorful Cougar wraps for Pullman Transit buses.

In addition to these city of Pullman infrastructure and equipment improvements, there were many indications of continued improvements within the community.  For the first year since 2007 and the onset of the “Great Recession” in December of that year, building permit valuation exceeded $30 million.  This was an approximate doubling of building permit activity over the 2010 level.  Although building permit activity for single-family residences continued its decline in line with state and national trends, commercial building activity and multi-family permits rose sharply.  

Of particular noteworthiness was the continuing growth within the high tech sector.  Both Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories (SEL) and Decagon Devices undertook major facility expansions.  SEL constructed a new 3-story, 90,000-square-foot Solutions Delivery Center Building at the Port of Whitman Industrial Park.  Decagon Devices broke ground in November for a 27,000-square-foot expansion to its facility.  Employment opportunities within high tech firms also continued to expand in 2011.

On the political front, 2011 was a municipal election year.  Mayor Glenn A. Johnson became the first mayor in the city’s history to be elected for a third term.  In the City Council races, Francis Benjamin, Keith Bloom, Nathan Weller, and Pat Wright were all re-elected.  The city ward lines also were required to be redrawn as a result of the 2010 census.  The process went smoothly, without the need for radical changes in the boundaries.  All three wards are now essentially equally balanced in terms of population.  City Councilmember Barney Waldrop, the longest serving current city elected official with 11 ½ years on the City Council, announced his resignation in December.  He has done an outstanding job and will be greatly missed.

At the staff level, Pat Wilkins retired after 42 years with the Pullman Fire Department, with 27 of those years as chief.  Scott LaVielle was selected as the new fire chief subject to council confirmation on Jan. 10. Robb Parrish also retired as manager of the Pullman-Moscow Regional Airport and Tony Bean was selected as his replacement.  Temporary Library Services Manager Joanna Bailey was certified by the State Librarian as a professional librarian and then was selected by the Neill Public Library Board as the new Library Services Director.

In spite of the continuing cuts in state funding support for WSU, both the community and the university continued to grow.  The city of Pullman reached an all-time record population high of 29,820 while the Pullman campus of WSU had an all-time enrollment record of 21,016 for the fall semester.  The city also grew in size as the City Council voted to annex 509 acres to the northwest portion of Pullman.  

Much planning took place in 2011 with respect to accommodating future growth.  WSU presented its master plan for the Pullman campus.  The Planning Commission and the City Council reviewed recommendations for a new Urban Growth Area (UGA) for the city of Pullman.  The city of Pullman also launched its Pullman 2020 planning process.  WSU President Elson S. Floyd and SEL president and founder Ed Schweitzer gave the keynote addresses at the kickoff to the Pullman 2020 process on Sept. 8.  At subsequent City Council meetings various community organizations have given their preferred visions for the year 2020.

In spite of the rebounding building permit activity and the optimistic planning for Pullman’s future, the ongoing cuts at WSU and within the state of Washington budget continued to be a major source of concern.  The City Council passed a resolution urging the Governor and the Legislature not to make additional cuts in higher education and basic education funding in view of the deep cuts that have already been made.  These state cuts and the actions taken by others to address their lost revenues have directly impacted the city of Pullman’s budget situation.  The Governor proposed cuts in city funding including in liquor revenues in spite of the passage of I-1183.  The city also lost $331,000 in sales tax revenues due to a 2011 bill approved by the legislature.   The budget for 2012 was adopted with the stipulation that a review would be made after the first quarter of 2012 to determine if it would be necessary to launch a formal ‘levels of services and priorities’ process to make cuts within the adopted budget.

We want to thank our supportive citizens and dedicated staff for making 2011 another successful year for the city of Pullman.  With their continued help and support, we look forward to facing the challenges of 2012 in a proactive and positive manner.