Wayne Stebner sipped his lemonade slowly at the Antique Sandwich Shop near Ruston and spoke slowly. The councilman seemed to be choosing his words carefully.

The topic that day: the worsening political atmosphere in Ruston. Except there’s one hitch – he doesn’t believe it’s getting worse.

“There are some that say it’s getting worse, and some that say it’s getting better,” he said. “I feel that it’s getting better. There are changes that are going to occur, and they’re tough changes, but they will occur.”

He knows the brouhaha around the Commencement, a high-rise condo building in the small town near Tacoma’s North End, has caused heartache. But he said it’s in the past, and the people are moving on.

“Right now, it’s being built. They have every right to build it, and I don’t have a problem with that,” he said. “They have a lease on our school right now for the next 495 or so years. That sits rather sorely with a lot of residents in the community. Taking that lease back is probably not an option, even if residents would like that. And the way it occurred is sore with a lot of people. It was part of the old Ruston politics. And I came in on the wave of public sentiment to change that.

“That being said, I’m not going to go out on a limb and cause problems for the Commencement. But I’m going to hold them accountable.”

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He said the town is in a bad shape economically, and something needs to change soon.

“We need something significantly more than what we have now. The waterfront may – and there’s no promise that it will – provide that revenue. It would be nice if we had a large company take over and be another company town, but it doesn’t look like that’s going to occur. It’s kind of wait-and-see of what’s going to happen there.

“We have some revenues from the sale of the school property, but that has been eaten away a little bit at a time. Once that’s gone, the rest of Ruston can go bye-bye too. Maintaining that slush fund is basically the life of the town here. If that goes, it’s going to be a hard, hard thing. A business district down there will have to happen soon. You just can’t sit and wait.

“It’d be naïve to think it wouldn’t, based on the economic situation here. We don’t have any businesses coming in to save us. I’ve had meetings with Tacoma – just as informational meetings – if they would be interested in stepping in. I asked what would be considered, and things like that. Tacoma said they wouldn’t annex if it’s not something the citizens of Ruston want. It’s not their game plan.”

He said recent council meetings have been tenser because certain residents aren’t happy their candidates are in power now.

“One group had control for a while, and they don’t have control now. They’re madder than heck. They’re calling themselves the majority, but the results of the elections really don’t show that. Change is slow sometimes, unfortunately.”

He seconded Councilman Bradley Huson’s motion to change council rules that limited the amount of public input. He sees it as a safety issue.

“We had to make a move. There were serious safety issues there that were not being handled. I talked to several people after the meeting, and they were seriously concerned about their safety. The mayor has chosen to let the meetings go the way they have. I feel he has the ability to control things better and is opting not to for political benefit.

…

I think having people removed would help. And when there are outbursts, handling it right away instead and not just ignore it. He will handle negative things when they come his way, but when they’re coming toward the council, he will let it go. And I don’t think that’s fair, and it was time for the council to take some action. This was probably an overcorrection at this point, but we need to find an equal medium somewhere. Right now, there are serious safety issues.”

He also seconded the motion to Dan Albertson’s appointment to the council late last year. The move has come under fire by some who say it deviated from traditional practice.

“Mr. Everding made the motion, and it sounded like a good idea at the time,” he said. “(Albertson) was his legal background, and he had the most amount of votes of the folks who went up for election and didn’t receive an office. … I felt that bringing Mr. Albertson in at the time was the right decision.”

And he sees some of the banter as a lose-lose situation.

“At the last meeting, I was accused by the fire chief of boosting up his budget to get rid of him,” he said. “And then later on in the evening, I was chastised for taking the money away. Everything is just so topsy-turvy.”