Scott Cecil for Mayor

I am running for Mayor to bring transparency and accountability to our City Government.

Since being elected to the City Council in 2019, I have gained a better understanding of the challenges facing the City of Mount Rainier and its residents. And, it has been my honor to work with my colleagues on the Council and the new City Manager to address many of those challenges head-on. 

After being elected, I found myself in a political environment that was below the standards for discourse, accountability, and transparency that the residents of our City deserve. We had a City Manager who was a low performer in pivotal areas of managing the city and the staff of more than 40 people it employs. We had a Mayor & Council who were failing to exercise proper due diligence in overseeing that City Manager and the City's business. The City had fallen three years behind on state-required, third-party audits. The city staff was operating in a toxic work environment, with members of the City Council being too heavily involved in the staff's day-to-day work. The City was not doing an adequate job of communicating with residents and meeting them where they are in digital spaces. And, we had a police department which, through scandal in the media, had lost the confidence of the public. 

I helped hire a new City Manager who has helped catch the City up on third-party audits and adjusted the City's inflated budgets. I have spent a great deal of time and energy working with staff, colleagues, and residents to repair the broken system of communication between the city government and residents by being accessible and responsive in online forums, in person, and via phone. The encouragement and appreciation from residents tells me that these efforts have been successful and I look forward to continuing to improving communication throughout the city. And, finally, as our police department has seen extensive transformation under new leadership, I plan to prioritize further reforms, including reallocation of funds toward community-based resources with the hope of reducing the responsibilities placed on our PD and the expenses that come along with those responsibilities.

In these times of economic uncertainty, a public health emergency, and civil turmoil, the status quo will no longer suffice. I am running because I believe that our City needs to move in a new direction, under a new vision, with new leadership. It would be my honor to be able to help steer our beautiful community in that new direction and I request your support to be the next Mayor of Mount Rainier.