Yakima’s new city manager, Vicki Baker, moved to Yakima from Oregon halfway through her sophomore year of high school.
It was no fun at first, she joked, but she got up to speed fast and remembers a thriving community. In an interview on Aug. 22, she recalled going to Eisenhower High School while her brother went to and played football at Davis High School.
“Talk about interesting Friday night dynamics,” Baker said.
Baker is just 10 days into her new job at City Hall, but she said she wants to bring that thriving feeling back. A business owner and former county commissioner, she is stepping into a new role as the city’s top official – the city manager. She will guide dozens of city departments and their staff members and oversee more than $200 million in spending every year.
She plans on working closely with Yakima City Council, she said, and striving toward their goals. Three first-time council members stepped into office this year and the new council has taken things in its own direction, firing Baker’s predecessor, Bob Harrison, and hiring her this summer.
Baker has come in with a local perspective, she said, and plans to be in the position for a long time.
“It would be really valuable for anybody to know that the difference in having somebody like me, who's from here, in this position. I already know a lot,” she said. “I don't know a lot about how wastewater works, but I do know a lot about all the people here. I know how all the entities work. I could hit the ground running in many respects.”
Here is an interview with Baker, edited for length and clarity.
What are your priorities and goals for this position?
I was pretty excited to see what the council's retreat looked like because it really was in alignment with what I see as needed in the community. They picked, and I have them right up on the wall behind me here: safe and healthy Yakima, resilient Yakima, thriving Yakima and engaged Yakima.
They're different priorities, but they're all things that our whole community would like us to focus on. They're a foundation for us growing, for the people feeling safe and secure, and that's hugely important to me.
How do you plan on making the city safer and specifically confronting issues around crime and drug use?
Our council definitely wants to focus on those things as well. We're right in the middle of budget right now. Today we talked about fire, which people forget, as a very important aspect of public safety. There's a lot of needs there.
The police department is what everybody thinks first. I haven't had that meeting yet, but I do know interim Chief (Shawn) Boyle is looking at what needs to be done. I know they've implemented a proact team, which has been beneficial for going out proactively, not just going call to call, but, looking for things that could be helped in downtown areas.
I know that we want to move toward technology, where we can be a little bit more strategic with how we deploy our resources. Chief Boyle and I talked a little bit about that, how we can use technology to get a look at what's going on in-location before we send someone.
I haven't gone through their budget to see just how that looks, but it's a big priority for the council and me, to make sure that the police department and fire department have what they need.
What does a safer Yakima look like for you?
I think (council) has some specific goals on this. It does include working on the homeless issue. I know that's a priority of council. We heard that in our last council meeting, where they want to look at new options, which I'm going to get a briefing on. I don't know what they are looking at, yet.
They want to see a reduced number of the people who are living on the street, and more of them in services. So that that means outreach, and that means working with the county, which I have a great opportunity to do with them right across the street. I can work with them on streamlining services, working together on what we can do with the funds that they have.
Programs are specifically designed for a continuum of care for someone. But are those funds addressing those other things, like code enforcement or law enforcement, making sure the community is clean and kept up? I know the city is doing some of that work, but in partnership with the county, there might be more that we could do.
(One of our goals is to) develop infrastructure with safety in mind. I think what (council) means, what they’re trying to get at with that, is landscapes being cleared, like the Greenway being cleared so there’s not dark areas.
Of course, prevention is huge. I’m on the Safe Yakima Valley Board, and that is prevention. We’re trying to get to the kids young and give them new opportunities. MLK pool is a great example of something that the city can do to provide more for young kids to do. But underneath that, there's going to be a lot more detail. This is day 10.
Like you said, this is day 10. How do you plan to get up to speed and get that knowledge and experience to succeed in this role and to lead the city?
I've been pleasantly surprised that a lot of this is pretty common sense. I've been able to pick it up. I haven't really been lost in any meetings yet, which is fantastic.
There's a really good, high-level staff here. They will partner with me and help me when I ask questions. They know the answers. That's been extremely helpful when it comes to the budgeting and those specific things that I'm focused on. I have good experience with that, so it hasn't been a problem.
Over time, I'm sure I will pick up the finer details. But right now, because I have about five weeks for the first budget to be presented, that's definitely my priority right now. I'm in my comfort zone with that.
This city is facing – maybe not tomorrow, but in the near future – issues with revenues not meeting expenses and an unbalanced budget. Do you have any plans, thoughts or solutions for some of those issues?
Absolutely, yes. The council directed for a priority-based budget to be put together. We're in discussions with the departments about what that looks like and how it's different from what they've been used to in the past, where you have a budget that that just is line items and things you're used to having for expenses and, maybe, an incremental change.
This is going to be more program-based. Each department will have the things that they do identified and it will show what those things cost and how many people it serves, and it'll come back with a lot more information for council to look at than they've ever seen before.
They'll be able to see those details that should make strategic changes much easier, because it's just hard to just say, ‘Yeah, we're just going to take 5% off of everything.’
You don't even know what you're cutting. It's kind of flying blind. This is going to be way more informed. It's a process, but I see this as a very powerful way, moving forward, to control the expenses.
The other thing is, I have a long-term mindset. When I look at the needs that are being presented, I think about 10 years from now, try to get at things incrementally, and try to think about ways we can take bites at something.
We'll make adjustments to make it balance, obviously, but it will take a number of years to really get things in there that are important, like planning for equipment replacement, planning for building maintenance and deferred maintenance being managed.
You’re in charge of hiring. What are your plans or goals for hiring a new chief of police right now?
Right now, I am watching Interim Chief Boyle do an excellent job. I'm watching, learning, listening; it’s the beginning of the process.
Everything that I've seen so far coming out of the police department has been excellent, so I'm going to take some time to assess that. He's an interim, so he's also working through change. I'm sure we'll be in close communication about that decision over the next few months.
The city of Yakima has had petitions from community members in parts of Terrace Heights to join the city, but other community members have spoken against such a change at meetings. Do you have any thoughts or goals regarding the potential annexation in Terrace Heights?
I'll tell you, that was a response to a petition. Legally, we have to respond to the petition.
What you saw was some landowners request that petition. What you saw in the (city council) meeting this week was us listening.
The council's decision will be the council's decision, but they need to get a lot more detail and information. So that's what our staff is doing right now, crunching numbers and talking to Yakima County; they’re crunching numbers. After, the public will have a lot more information.
There’s a process to this that's very long. There'll be plenty of opportunities in the middle for the public to be engaged.
There may have been some miscommunication about what was happening. This is just the beginning of this application. We have a meeting on Sept. 17 next to come back to council with a lot more detail, and we'll see what they do.
Whether it’s in Terrace Heights or in other parts of the Valley, are there opportunities for future annexations?
It's not a goal of mine to do anything like that. I don't think the public understands, I didn't understand this either, but a city has around it this urban growth area, and it's the places in the county where the city is anticipated to grow to.
Those areas are naturally places where it would become city someday. I have no expectation for any other plans like that. Again, the petitioners come to the city, so I can't anticipate what the residents would do. It's the people who live in the area who will decide.
What are your goals or plans, or what would you like to see in downtown Yakima?
The business side of me definitely wants to let everybody know that we want to be open for business downtown. We want to work with the Downtown Association of Yakima. I have meetings scheduled to talk to them and figure out the state of the game there, because I don't know yet what's happening.
I do see a lot of vacant buildings, and I do think that's an opportunity for us. Long term, economic development at the city is a huge priority of mine. But on day 10, I don't have anybody here focused on that yet.
I would say that it's going to happen, though. In the next year, you're going to see economic development become a strong priority here.
There's lots of areas of Yakima besides downtown that are important, though, but that one is definitely on my radar as a priority.
You’ve come into this role and you’ve said you want to be here for a while. What is it about Yakima that makes you want to stay here and build something and be here for a long time?
Our Valley has so much potential and this community has so much potential because of the people that are here. Our community is invested in making it better.
I think we have some untapped potential in in having our community work together. We maybe haven't always done that. I want to be part of doing that. That means business leaders, nonprofits, government – you name it – hospital, everybody working together to make it better here.
That's a long term project, but I definitely want to see us all pulling the same direction. What I can do here is try to create a foundation of certainty and safety so that businesses and others can build something here. That's definitely my goal.
Is there anything I missed? Anything else you feel is important?
As much as people may be concerned that I haven't been a city manager before, and that's true, I bring a different perspective to this as somebody who has lived here and watched it from afar, and run a business and been in a lot of boards and nonprofits.
That perspective is different. I'm pretty optimistic about getting a handle on this pretty quick and moving forward. It's exciting. I absolutely love every day. I will tell you that. It's been a fire hose, and there's been moments where I'm like, ‘Wow,’ but most of the time I'm fired up. I love it so much and we have an amazing team here. I'm blessed.