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2014 Tumwater City Council welcomes a busy year ahead
The City Council's first meeting of the new year included the swearing in of four councilmembers and Mayor Kmet by State Supreme Court Justice Mary Fairhurst. Elected to the Council were Ed Hildreth to a four-year term, M. John Way to a four-year term, Debbie Sullivan to a four-year term, and Nicole Hill to the remainder of a two-year term. Mayor Pete Kmet was also sworn in to a second four-year term. The 2014 Tumwater City Council and Mayor are pictured above.
This marks the start of a busy year where the City will continue to focus on redevelopment of the brewery, design and construction of the Deschutes Valley Trail, implementation of the Capitol Boulevard Plan, launch of a new City website, completion of the police expansion, continued work on traffic calming in neighborhoods, and finalizing the plan for the Brewery Neighborhood. We will continue to write about these stories in Tumwater on Tap and highlight them on the City website.
To open the Council's first meeting, Mayor Kmet welcomed the new Councilmembers and thanked them for the accomplishments of the past year, including adoption of the Capitol Boulevard Plan, reorganization of the golf course, hiring additional firefighters for the North End Station, initiating the police facility expansion, and working with the brewery property owners to remove the covenant that prohibited the manufacture or sale of alcohol. Later in the spring, the City will publish the 2013 Year in Review Report online and the 2014 Report to the Taxpayers will be mailed out. Watch your mailboxes for this review of how your tax dollars were invested.
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Registration open!
Check out the Tumwater Parks & Recreation Winter/Spring 2014 brochure for sports,
programs and classes.
Call (360) 754-4160 for details.
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Smart Corridors coming to Capitol Boulevard
The "Smart Corridors" project uses technology and regional collaboration to provide the ability to improve signal timing and transit priority to enhance mobility through the community. This pilot project improves travel on key corridors with strategically timed signals to allow traffic to move efficiently, reducing time and emissions. The Smart Corridors project will update signal systems and improve signal timing.
 Two regional corridors have been identified for the initial effort. The north-south corridor will directly impact Tumwater traffic, Capitol Way / Capitol Boulevard, from State Avenue to Tumwater Boulevard. The second east-west priority is Martin Way / State Avenue / 4th Avenue, from Marvin Road to the vicinity of the Olympia Transit Center.
"Smart Corridors" is a regional initiative through Thurston Regional Planning Council (TRPC) that is being funded by a federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality grant. The Washington State Department of Transportation is working with Tumwater to implement our City's portion of project, which should be fully functional by this autumn.
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Tumwater Youth Program (TYP)
For nearly 20 years, Tumwater Youth Program (TYP) has offered evening activities for teens and pre-teens in the Tumwater community. Separate events for grade school (grades 4-6) and middle school students (grades 7-8) are held monthly throughout the school year and feature a wide variety of themes and activities.
Grade School events may include an inflatable obstacle course, a magic show, or feature a carnival theme - complete with carnival games and prizes. Middle School "late nights" appeal to the older crowd with activities like the Cash Cube, Mechanical Shark, dodge ball tournaments, and Hawaiian-themed events. No matter what the games or featured activity may be, all TYP events offer a place for youth to have fun, socialize with friends, interact positively with adults, and so much more. For a schedule of this quarter's TYP events, visit the City of Tumwater website.
The goal of TYP is to provide a safe, fun, and positive environment for our community's youth. This goal could not be met without the citizens of Tumwater and their generous contributions of time and talent.
Interested in volunteering? Please consider joining other concerned parents and community members in providing safe and fun activities for our youth. Become a part of the TYP Volunteer Team! Call Tumwater Parks and Recreation at (360) 754-4160 about attending the next volunteer orientation.
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Capitol Boulevard Plan adopted
 The Tumwater City Council approved new plans and zoning for the Capitol Boulevard corridor on Tuesday, January 7, 2014. This action is the culmination of nearly three years of work with the citizens, landowners, and business owners in and around the Capitol Boulevard Corridor.
The Capitol Boulevard Corridor Plan, guided by public input, envisions better movement of people (driving, walking, and biking), an improved appearance of this important and historic street, and a better place for business and commerce.
Preparations have already begun for implementation of the plan's action items. This includes the design and engineering for Capitol Boulevard which will be administered by the Tumwater Public Works Department.
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Tumwater holiday giving recap
Santa Fire Truck Report 
Volunteers delivered more than five truckloads of food and $1,070.00 in cash to the Thurston County Food Bank in December 2013. All donations were collected by volunteers from the Santa Fire Truck last month.
Santa reported that the most popular toy requests were iPads, iPods, X-Boxes, cell phones, Play Stations, Legos, American Girl Dolls, and surprisingly, pogo sticks.
A letter to Santa...
Dear Santa and Tumwater Fire Department,
Thank you so much for this. It means so much to our community, as it is low-income and most parents can't afford to take kids to see Santa. So this is the only time most get to see him...
[from a Tumwater apartment complex tenant]
Back at City Hall
City employees participate in volunteer activities around the holidays and throughout the year to help the community. During the winter holidays, efforts involve collecting donations for Thurston County Food Bank and YWCA's Other Bank. The Other Bank collects personal necessities, such as toilet paper, dish soap, and hygiene supplies.This December, employees donated a full 55-gallon barrel of items to each of these programs. Both programs contribute to the community at large and provide small backpacks of weekend food and personal hygiene supplies to students in need, including those in Tumwater schools.
One of the Thurston County Food Bank's fifteen satellite stations is located at the City of Tumwater Fire Hall. Volunteers from the firefighter's union distribute food each Thursday to folks that cannot make it to the downtown facility.
Help your neighbors throughout the year
Although the holiday season is behind us, needs in the community arise every day. Consider contributing to the Food Bank, the Other Bank or other charitable organizations this year.
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