Our program this past Friday, September 25th was a Classification Talk by John Spencer one of our newest members, well known and respected in the community and in our Club. His wife Terri was a Founding Member of our Club. John's early years were spent growing up in the Eastern Washington community of Cheney before his family moved to Olympia where he started high school. John credits his work ethic on his upbringing on a farm, milking cows, planting crops and other daily chores. John went to the University of Washington studying and earning a degree in Urban Planning. John met Terri Haugen there and got married. He earned a Master's Degree in Regional Planning from the University of British Columbia.
John went to work for the Washington State Department of Environmental Quality after the agency was formed. For much of his time, he was the Deputy Director and served a brief stint as the Director of the agency in the early 1980's. The Spencer's moved to Lake Stevens in 1984 when he took a job overseeing the wastewater utility for King County Metro. In 1993, John was named the General Manager of the Snohomish County PUD. Shortly afterwards, he went to work for the engineering firm of CH2M Hill and traveled the country as a consultant on wastewater projects. Some of the projects included Cook Island and working on an outfall into the ocean project on the island of Oahu in Hawai'i. John retired in 2015 from CH2M Hill.
John stated that Joyce Bell was responsible for recruiting him to run for Mayor. He ran and won the Office of Mayor with his term starting in 2016 and retired in 2020 to spend more time with his family, particularly Terri. During his campaign for Mayor, he used the slogan that "Lake Stevens Needs to Step UP" which he heard all of the time during his time in Lake Stevens. The vision, of one community around the lake, was an important aspect of his term. Our lake is a good attraction for tourists and people wanting to move here. The Mill at North Cove was started under John's watch. City staff helped rally behind the effort to change downtown Lake Stevens into a more viable center of commerce and activity. Other items of interest, the new sidewalk on South Lake Stevens Road which John credited to city staff. The park at Frontier Heights, the new skateboard facility at Cavalero Park, changes to North Cove and Lundeen Parks were just some of the projects undertaken during his term. You know, it takes a VILLAGE to bring about needed changes but above all it takes a LEADER to inspire that Village.