Auburn, like other city governments, is struggling to provide many necessary services to residents.

Longtime Auburn resident Larry Brown said he has a lot to contribute to that effort.

Which is why Brown recently filed for Position 6 on the Auburn City Council, longtime incumbent Rich Wagner’s seat.

“We face a future where it seems like the federal government is prone to pushing responsibility downward to the states, and the states seem to want to do the same to county and city governments. I do have a great deal of experience lobbying and working with King County and the state legislature,” Brown said.

Here’s a bit of his background.

Brown, a member of the Green River College (then GRCC) Board of Directors from 1998 to 2011, is an appointee to the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges.

A former Boeing employee, Brown is the legislative and political director for Aerospace Machinists District Lodge 751. He has served on the King County Airport Advisory Committee

A Spokane native, Brown moved with his family to San Diego, Calif. when he was a child and graduated from high school there in 1972. He moved to Auburn in 1979, settling in a house a couple of blocks north of Washington Elementary School.

Brown and his wife, Donna, have two grown children, Cara Mattson and Greg Brown.

In his free time, or when he’s feeling blue, Brown said, he likes to hop on his customized, 1995 Harley Davidson Road King and take it for a spin. He keeps up an avid interest in international diplomacy, and is a Seattle Seahawks season ticket holder.

Brown served in the U.S. Navy from 1973 to 1977.

“I’ve lived in Auburn for a long time, and it’s been a good place to live,” Brown said. “I raised my two children here. But the problem in Auburn, like other communities, is that too many of us are being left behind economically. I think it’s important that we work on education, transportation infrastructure and economic development.

“Those are the things I’m looking at so we can be supportive of our schools and our parks and City services. That’s what I am going to be talking to people about when I start door belling,” Brown added.

Wagner, who has served on the Auburn City Council since 1990 and was last elected in 2013, said Monday that he has not yet made up his mind whether to seek reelection, and indeed, had been waiting to see whether Brown, whom he called capable to do the job, would file.

Wagner told the Auburn Reporter four years ago that at that time he wanted at least one more term on the council to see the community center he had fought for decades actually built. The City opened its community center in Les Gove Park in 2016.

“There’s still an awful lot of things that need to be done in Auburn,” Wagner said.

Brown said he has no criticism to offer of Wagner.