LFP CIty Administrator Resigns to Take Top Job in Tukwila

Lake Forest Park City Administrator David Cline submitted his resignation to Mayor Dave Hutchinson effective October 14, 2011 and will take the position of city administrator with the City of Tukwila.

"This was an opportunity I couldn't pass up," he said. "It was a difficult decision. I've liked working with Mayor Hutchinson...The city is blessed to have some talented folk here in City Hall who do great for work for the community."

It's up to Hutchinson, who is not seeking reelection, to decide how to handle the interim absence of a city administrator prior to the new mayor taking over in January. 

Current Deputy Mayor Dwight Thompson and former councilwoman Mary Jane Goss are running for mayor. The winner in November will hire the new city administrator, upon approval by the Council. 

Cline, who lives in Redmond, became city adminstrator of LFP  in May 2007, after serving as the Interim/Assistant City Manager in Burien.

"It has been an honor to serve the citizens of Lake Forest Park, " said Cline, "and I am proud of the accomplishments of the City over the past five years.

Cline said he believes, "great work" was done in "difficult times" during his tenure with the city and that the "city is in great financial shape."

"I expect that to continue under whoever is the next city administrator here," he said.

"David has been a tremendous asset to the City and a pleasure to work with, " said Hutchinson, "and we wish him all the best in his future career serving the City of Tukwila."

Cline's tenure was marked by the worst recession in the U.S. since the Great Depression and limits on government to raise property taxes. 

At the direction of the mayor and council, the city budget has been cut by $2 million over the last four years and staff has been reduced by 15 percent, Cline said. By law, the city has to have a balanced budget. 

In August 2010, voters defeated a property tax levy lid lift for city services by a 78 to 22 percent margin.

"The election last year was a question of what level of service they wanted to support," Cline said. 

Cuts were made again, but some residents want to vote out the incumbents who agreed to put the the levy to voters in 2010. 

"City administrators are apolitical," Cline said. "They are here to do the work of the mayor and council."

Cline isn't the only top city official to resign recently. Finance Director Jillian Hostenske resigned after only three months on the job this summer. She's been replaced by Steve Nolen, a former city administrator in Lynnwood and city manager in Mill Creek who was most recently working as a consultant for Transportation Solutions, Inc.

Cline, who holds a bachelor's degree in public policy from Stanford and has taught English in Indonesia and lived in Bolivia, will manage a 300-plus staff in Tukwila. He'll also receive about a 15 percent increase in pay.

Southcenter Mall is in Tukwila as well as the Museum of Flight and other commercial buildings. 

"It's the major economic center of South King County," he said. "It's one of the most diverse communities in the state of Washington."