WHATCOM COUNTY, Wash. — City of Blaine Mayor Mary Lou Steward’s signature was missing from the North Whatcom County Small Cities Caucus letter to 4 state agencies with “No signature available” in its place in the signature block. In the accompanying press release from the caucus, it was said, “The letter was signed by the mayors of Everson, Ferndale, Lynden, Nooksack and Sumas,” with Blaine omitted from the list.
Mayor Steward responded via email to Whatcom News’ inquiry about the missing signature.
In her response, Steward first pointed out that given Blaine’s council-manager form of government, the city manager would have represented the city on such a letter, but the caucus preferred to have the mayor sign.
As such, I did reach out to the council for their views. The response that I got was that Blaine very much wants to be part of the best solution to solve the water management problems. We realize that, even though we were not badly affected by this particular storm, we may be the next time and that it is important that we support our fellow communities. Some of our council members felt very strongly that this letter might not represent the best solution.
Blaine is a very diverse population in terms of ideology and our council most definitely reflects this.City of Blaine Mayor Mary Lou Steward (February 3, 2022)
Why is Bellingham missing?