Kent Reporter, August 21, 2015

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INSIDE | City receives ‘very strong’ bond rating [3]

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Sports | Brace, Mist eye the big prize in indoor football – the Legends Cup [9]

FRIDAY, AUGUST 21, 2015

YMCA plans to build facility in Kent BY STEVE HUNTER shunter@kentreporter.com

After years of behind-the-scene talks with city officials and residents, the YMCA is coming to Kent. Mayor Suzette Cooke and YMCA leaders plan to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) within the next two weeks to build a $25

million recreational facility and pool. The YMCA will go up on the eastern side of what will be the city’s expanded Morrill Meadows Park along Southeast 248th Street, just east of 104th Avenue Southeast, City Parks Director Jeff Watling said at a City Council workshop on Tuesday.

“I just wanted to say thank you YMCA for joining with us in this project,” Councilwoman Deborah Ranniger said. “The impetus for this project has actually been around since 2002 when King County announced it was going to close and did close for a period [ more YMCA page 14 ]

Mustafa Bulale, a sixth-grade math teacher at Excel Public Charter School, left, meets Noah Kebret, a sixth-grader, far right, and his mother, Jerusalem Gebrekidan, and younger sister, Naomi, as they tour the school last Saturday. HEIDI SANDERS, Kent Reporter

TAKING A BOLD STEP IN EDUCATION First charter school opens in Kent BY HEIDI SANDERS hsanders@kentreporter.com

ent’s first public charter school is up and running. Excel Public Charter School, which is using space in New Beginnings Christian Fellowship Church, 19300 108th Ave. SE, opened its doors to students on Tuesday. Students, parents and school and community representatives gathered at the school last Saturday to celebrate the opening with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. Excel is one of eight charter schools opening throughout the state this

K

year. The state’s first charter school, First Place Scholars, opened last fall in Seattle. Washington voters approved the creation of charter schools in 2012. Charter schools are independent public schools operated by nonprofit organizations that are allowed more flexibility to be innovative with their educational program and are held accountable for improved student achievement. Excel, which will eventually serve students in sixth through 12th grade, has 156 sixth-and seventh-grade [ more SCHOOL page 2 ]

more photos online…

Cultural melody Gary Stroutsos, a Native American flute master and cultural storyteller, performs “Along the River,” a Mandan Hidatsa traditional song, at the Soos Creek Botanical Garden and Heritage Center last Saturday. Stroutsos’ program was part of the Experience Historical Kent Day celebration. The Seattle-

kentreporter.com

based artist has performed throughout North America and the Far East, and played at the White House for President Clinton. He has recorded soundtracks for several films, including the Ken Burns PBS documentary, “Lewis and Clark.” MARK KLAAS, Kent Reporter

City might impose fire impact fee on developers to help fund three new stations BY STEVE HUNTER shunter@kentreporter.com

The city of Kent might starting charging a fire impact fee to developers to help pay for three additional fire stations in the next

dozen years to boost firefighter response times. The City Council’s Economic and Community Development Committee meeting is scheduled to vote on the proposal at 4:30 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 24. If the

three-member committee approves the fee, which would be on new developments, it goes to the full seven-member council for a vote at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 1. “The new (station) sites are based on future growth and

development,” said Jim Schneider, chief of the Kent Fire Department Regional Fire Authority (RFA). The RFA is planning to build stations in the Valley, on the East and West hills between 2019 and 2026 or so. The agency also pro-

poses to close Station 75, 15635 S.E. 272nd St., in order to move the station westward closer to Kent and open another station in the southern part of Covington. [ more FIRE page 4 ]

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