‘We just had to be a little creative’: Issaquah mayor boasts $40M savings from city hall plans

The City of Issaquah, behind new Mayor Mark Mullet, has found a way to save roughly $40 million by choosing to purchase rather than build a new city hall.

Mullet, speaking on “The John Curley Show” on KIRO Newsradio, noted the move is just one of many that he has done to save Issaquah’s taxpayers a few bucks and how he plans to make the city an “oasis of tranquility.”

“I became mayor on Jan. 1, and we spent a lot of time meeting with real estate agents just trying to understand what was out there,” Mullet said. “So we found a building that worked. We did a creative deal with the owner where he actually gets to keep his family office in the basement of the building for the next seven years. That was what made him comfortable selling it as opposed to leasing it. It all worked out. We just had to be a little creative, think outside the box, and at the end of the day, I think we got a great deal.”

“There’s nothing, nothing that some politicians love more than spending money and building things,” KIRO host John Curley responded.

Mullet says $40M savings prove creative thinking beats political spending habits

Curley wondered if there were people inside Issaquah’s government who had pushed for a new city hall rather than an existing building.

“There was a whole citizen commission on that concept last year. I think at the end of the day, as you highlighted, we probably saved the taxpayers about $40 million by buying a building as opposed to building something from scratch,” Mullet said. “At the end of the day, property taxes are high in Issaquah, and I think people appreciate the fact that we’re not asking to pay any more than they already do.”

In light of the recently passed so-called millionaires’ tax in Washington, Mullet affirmed that some aspects of the broader government actions are out of his hands, but he sees it as a problem-solving challenge that he will work through for his city.

“We just want Issaquah to be an oasis of tranquility, like I can’t solve all the world’s problems, but I can do what I can in Issaquah to make it as nice a city to live in as possible,” Mullet said. “There are a lot of things happening outside the city that we can’t control. It seems like, obviously, a lot of people are voting with their feet, where they’re already starting to relocate.

“My hope is cooler heads prevail down in Olympia down the road, but right now, the real refreshing change as a mayor is you get to really focus on solving the problems, that is what Issaquah folks care about,” he continued. “A lot of that is just spend your money wisely. You want good public safety. People really appreciate how Issaquah has always supported their local police department; those are all things I care about. So it’s been a really good fit.”

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

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