Bassett to run again for Council
Published 1:43 pm Monday, April 20, 2015
Mayor Bruce Bassett will run again for Position No. 5 on the Mercer Island City Council.
Bassett has served on the Council for seven years, and as Mayor for three. The City Council votes to select the mayor.
“In Mercer Island, we face challenges and great opportunities,” Bassett said. “Having steady and experienced leadership is valuable as we work through these things.”
Bassett says he has a “collaborative, roll-up-the-sleeves” approach to leadership, and seeks consensus in decision-making.
He said the growth and transportation issues facing the Island will have a large impact on the community, not only during the next term, but for years to come. Light rail service on the Island won’t begin until 2023, but there are a lot of details to be worked out before then, with Town Center planning, parking, the impending closure of the I-90 center lanes and bus service cuts.
Bassett, a former technology executive who ran his own company, Virtual Research, for 10 years, said he “has an engineer mindset” and is a “natural problem solver.”
He said the experience from owning a business made him collaborative and fiscally responsible. These traits carry over well to Council duties, especially in a city like Mercer Island that operates on a lean budget.
“We have a constrained number of dollars, and we need to use them as wisely as possible to advance the community,” he said.
In the wake of dramatic cuts to Island Metro bus routes, Bassett led an effort to restore some of the service.
“Whatever the challenge before us, we rely on steady leadership, a thoughtful Council, and an engaged public to see us through to an optimal solution,” he writes on his website, electbruce.org.
During his time on the Council, Bassett pushed to improve the city’s play fields, restore funding for Mary Wayte pool and improve bicycle and pedestrian facilities, like the trail along the southern portion of Island Crest Way and the shoulders along East and West Mercer Way.
Bassett has served on the Utility Board, the Arts Council, the Parks and Recreation Subcommittee, the Design Commission, Eastside Transportation Partners, the City/School District Ad-hoc Committee, the Suburban Cities Association and the school district’s 21st Century Facilities Committee.
He said his first term was about learning the ropes and getting a firm handle on local issues, while his second term was about leadership and regional issues, as he built relationships with fellow elected officials. He currently serves on the King County Regional Transit Commission and on the Puget Sound Regional Council Executive Board.
“I can be an advocate for Mercer Island,” he said. “You can’t really do that when you’re first starting out.”
Also a passionate environmental advocate, Bassett co-founded the Mercer Island Green Ribbon Commission.
Bassett moved to Mercer Island in 2003 for the schools and for a “new chapter in his life,” when he said he found himself with the flexibility and responsibility to give back to the community.
He lives in the Island Point neighborhood with his wife Nannette, who is active in the Washington Women’s Foundation, the Farmers’ Market, the Mercer Island Visual Arts League and the Mercer Island Women’s Club. Their daughter, Emily, is a freshman at Claremont McKenna College and son, William, is a sophomore at Mercer Island High School.
