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Amy Jo Sooy

Amy Jo Sooy was Cheney's first lady mayor. She served two terms from January l, 1998 to  January 1, 2006. Mayor Sooy said, “My first job was to revise the budget. We closed the Community Development Department and set up stringent fiscal policies. We had a budget of $20 million, but the City needed to have emergency funds.  We put aside ten percent of tax revenue for emergency. If the need arose, my permission granted authorization of this money. Also, three months of operating expense during the year was set aside for emergency. I held every department down to the line in their wishes. Every year each department came in under budget.”

The City Council began to formulate a Residential Street Program. The citizens of Cheney voted themselves a four percent increase in the electrical and natural gas taxes to improve eighteen miles of residential streets and six miles of sidewalks. The tax would run fourteen years beginning January 1, 1999 and end December 31, 2012. By the year 2007 approximately 13.5 miles of residential streets had been resurfaced and 5.25 miles of sidewalks replaced. Another $600,000 in tax funds was used to replace 1.5 miles of deficient water mains.

As Mayor Sooy took office Cheney's population was burgeoning. Single homes appeared in new neighborhoods. Golden Hills, Avalon, The Orchards, filled with new families. Multi-family dwellings with names like The Boulders, Barrington, Rock Springs, were developed. The Safeway complex and Holiday Express Motel expanded Cheney's north side and Wilcox Farms on the south edge of the city became a familiar sight.

Every city goes through periods of conflicting ideas among its citizens. In 2002 the City closed its Parks and Recreation program. It reopened in 2003 with a vote of the people to finance the program  with an energy tax.

From 1999 through 2005 major improvements of SR 904, three miles of which runs through the city, took place. Expenditure was approximately $6.9 million. The street was widened, curbs and sidewalks installed. The K Street Transit Station and Cheney Visitor Center were built.

Simpson Parkway appeared, which was a new collector arterial serving commercial businesses and residential development to the west. Minor arterial projects, revising and resurfacing sections of Cheney-Spokane, Salnave and Mullinix Roads, North Sixth, Betz Road and Second Street were improved as well.

Mayor Sooy appointed committees for a “Main Street Revitalization Program”. The work evolved into a partnership with EWU and Pathways to Progress, directed by Charlie Dotson. Over $100,000 was raised in a six-weeks period. The improvements and beautification of the downtown area has continued over time.

The City applied for grant funds which were used for safety improvements along SR 904 to Four Lakes. A Washington State Transportation Department study determined that improvements should include street lighting, rumble strips and widening the road to four lanes with a center turn lane.

During Sooy's tenure fiber optics came to Cheney and connected all the city buildings and city wells. Cheney now had its own telephone system and new computers to transfer information.

Managing the city's finances is always an ongoing concern. Cheney's 40-year loan for the construction of the waste water treatment plant was refinanced, reducing the time line from forty to twenty years, and was expected to save the rate payers approximately $2 million in interest charges.   Plans were discussed for the future which would allow the city to convert the wastewater treatment plant into a reclamation facility, diverting treated waste water effluent to irrigate parks, school grounds and the campus at EWU.

In 2003 the city began to operate the Cheney Recycling Facility causing the recycling business to expand. Comments about its management included, “Highly efficient and effective.”

An application for a Cheney Research and Industrial Park was begun in 2002 and continued through Sooy's terms as Mayor. A formal application for funding to the Economic Development Council was submitted after Sooy retired from office.

 Mayor Sooy said, “In 2003 we bought the Four Lakes substation and the Mayor's clock on First Street . We applied for a community block development and block grant funds to convert well # 4 for use as irrigation.”

Mayor Sooy provided some insights into the inner workings of a Mayor's day. “The Mayor is really the CEO of a corporation. The Mayor hires and fires. The council decides. The Mayor is the tie-breaker. The Mayor chairs council meetings but cannot speak.  The department heads bring concerns to the city administrator, who acts as the Mayor's voice at meetings.”

Amy Jo Sooy Tollefson, after two terms as Mayor of Cheney, moved to Lacey, Washington. With frequent visits to the area, she continued contact with Cheney friends and family.

Contributed by Luella Dow, 2007.