By Nancy Backus/for the Auburn Reporter

I moved to Auburn when I was 6 years old and have been here ever since. This is my hometown.

My husband and I have raised our daughter here and she, like me, is a product of the Auburn School District, and she is the captain of the women’s soccer team at Green River College.

Prior to taking office, I served 10 years as a City Council member, two of those years as deputy mayor, and spent more than two decades as a financial manager for The Boeing Co.

My family has given much for me to be in this job as your mayor – it is my dream job. Anyone who tells you that I am looking for some other office or powerful position hasn’t talked to me because there is no higher position for me than being your mayor.

I believe my financial experience at Boeing prepared me to keep a close eye on the city’s spending. We have continued our growth and stretched your tax dollars to provide better, more efficient service. The rumors about wasteful and frivolous spending are not true. Auburn runs a lean, conservative, transparent and well-prioritized budget.

As your mayor, I have been a champion for living wage job creation, increasing public safety, funding our road projects, and addressing the homelessness and drug crisis.

I am pleased, but not satisfied, with the hundreds of new business that have come to Auburn in my first term. We are creating a healthy mix of small, medium and large businesses and also benefiting from the expansion of Boeing and MultiCare. This has brought thousands of new jobs to Auburn.

Since taking office, we have allocated more than $3 million of extra funding to our road projects. Sadly, that’s not sustainable or enough. Which is why I assembled a citizen Transportation Advisory Board to further the community conversation as we examine the ongoing road funding question.

During my term, we added 14 new police officers to our force. Our police force now has the highest number of approved commissioned officers ever.

While the economy continues to recover, we cannot forget the underserved, marginalized and vulnerable. The partnerships that have helped us open of the Ray of Hope Resource Center to address homelessness are already showing positive results.

I am an experienced, steady hand and strong leader for our city and never take for granted what an honor it is to serve the residents of our great city. I’m not naïve to think we don’t have challenges, but my approach will always be collaborative and thoughtful.

I am proud to have the broadest and deepest support of endorsing organizations and community leaders of anyone in this race, particularly our firefighters and police officers, labor and business, builders and conservation voters. In service to you, I serve everyone. We must work together.

I am running for re-election for no other reason than I love this city and want to continue our growth and progress. I would be honored to receive your vote.