MOUNT VERNON — To supporters, Mayor Bud Norris is the fiscally conservative, business-friendly leader they want to see in office for four more years.

To critics, he embodies a combative style of leadership that they feel is damaging and unproductive.

In a city that has seen swift residential growth and has struggled to stimulate commercial growth, business leaders say Norris is the right person to lead that economic development.

“He knows how to get things done,” said Bill Youngsman, a Shoreline developer who owns Skagit I-5 Business Park, among other properties in Mount Vernon. “In my opinion, he’s just what the city needs right now.”

But some question the kinds of businesses Norris wants to draw and whether he has made Mount Vernon a good neighbor to Skagit County residents.

Susan Riedel lives in the Riverbend area outside of the city. She felt betrayed by Norris in 2004 when he made a move to bring Riverbend into the city’s urban growth area — despite the fact that, she said, she and other residents were nearly unanimously against the annexation.

Then Riedel said she was displeased with the way that the city approved a Wal-Mart Superstore on Freeway Drive.

“I believe that everything was done and finalized without proper public opinion, and I believe that public opinion did not matter,” Riedel said. “They wanted the tax revenue.”

Norris said annexing the Riverbend area was not off the table for the city, but that it would happen in an open-meeting process if it happened at all.

“It would be unrealistic to think that the city doesn’t need to look into commercial space to grow into,” Norris said.

After drawing no opponents in this year’s mayoral race, Norris was challenged by a write-in candidate, Doris Brevoort, a high school counselor who professes a love for listening and community-building.

She’s a breath of fresh air for some critics of Norris.

“I believe her willingness to listen to people, her willingness to work with people, instead of dictating how she wants things done because that’s what she thinks — I think she’s going to approach this from a whole different direction,” Riedel said.

Other Brevoort supporters and Norris critics echoed Riedel’s concerns.

A call for openness

“It’s often seemed to me that a lot of what the current mayor does, he does behind closed doors and with a certain group of people that he favors,” said Stoney Bird, a Mount Vernon resident and contributor to Brevoort’s campaign. “We need political representation that will be open to everybody.”

Norris often emphasizes the ability for residents to air their grievances or make comments at every City Council meeting.

Brevoort has said she would like to implement neighborhood councils in Mount Vernon to foster more discussion among residents and to create more of a dialogue between city government and residents.

Norris said he feels that would be redundant, given the weekly City Council meetings. He also cited a series of neighborhood meetings that the city held this year — one in each ward — to give residents a chance to interact with council members and the mayor.

Brevoort said the city needs to do a better job of reaching out to residents, including Spanish-speaking residents. She has highlighted her own Spanish-language skills.

Norris said he speaks “muy poquito” (very little) Spanish.

“I think it can be a disincentive for Spanish speakers (trying) to learn English if we just go overboard in trying to publish everything in Spanish,” Norris said.

If Norris’ leadership style irks some, for his supporters, it’s part of why they believe he is doing good work for the city.

“He’s been very willing to listen to various concerns that business owners have,” said Brian Gentry, a Burlington developer who has contributed $1,000 to Norris’ campaign. “I appreciate that he’s a pretty no-nonsense, straight-shooting individual. He’ll tell you his opinion, how he feels about things, and you don’t get a lot of baloney.”

Gentry’s company, Landed Gentry Homes & Communities, is currently undergoing an environmental study for a proposed 821-unit development next to Little Mountain Park.

Above all, Youngsman said, the city needs growth in business.

“His administration has been looking at ways the city can grow and service the business community,” Youngsman added.

Among other top contributors to Norris’ current campaign are the Skagit Island Builders Association and the Washington State Association of Realtors, according to recent filings with the state Public Disclosure Commission.

Youngsman and Gentry said Norris’ annexation of south Mount Vernon was one example of what Norris has accomplished to help build the city’s commercial tax base.

City flood efforts

Norris cites flood control as one of his major accomplishments, though the proposed flood wall and levee are still in design and engineering phases, haven’t been fully funded, and have been criticized by federal agencies such as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

But Norris said the city is taking action.

“We’re further along to accomplishing a project now than we’ve been in 60 years or more,” Norris said.

Brevoort has said the city needs to work more with the county and federal agencies to provide good flood control for the city and the whole region.

Norris said he is continuing to work with other jurisdictions on regional flood control through the Skagit River Impact Partnership, a collection of cities and dike districts that are planning to contest new federal flood elevation maps.

Brevoort drew applause at a candidate forum recently when she described a different approach to the flood-control issue than the combative one Norris has taken.

“Instead of arguing what the smallest 100-year flood that we can get away with is, why don’t we just really plan for the seventh generation” instead of trying to save money now, Brevoort said later. “That’s common sense.”

Brevoort also has made historic preservation in downtown Mount Vernon a cornerstone of her campaign.

Norris said there is merit to the idea of preserving some buildings in downtown Mount Vernon, but he doesn’t like the idea of making the whole downtown a historic district. He favors getting a history museum for the downtown area.

Several downtown business owners interviewed by the Skagit Valley Herald said they hadn’t made up their minds yet who they would support in the mayoral election.

Changing critics’ minds

“A year ago, I would have said I wouldn’t have voted for the current mayor,” said Megan O’Bryan, former manager of Scotts Bookstore and a member of the Downtown Business Association. “He’s been doing some things that impress me lately.”

O’Bryan said Norris’ plan for the permanent flood wall and accompanying redevelopment of downtown appeals to her.

“I think that there needs to be a redevelopment plan for downtown to keep it vital, and we have a huge opportunity down there to stop treating the river as an adversary and start treating it as a draw,” O’Bryan said. “That’s what (Norris’) redevelopment plan does.”

Others downtown, though, still remember that Norris alienated many in the county’s arts community when he explored the possibility of selling the Lincoln Theatre.

He later said that he never intended the city to sell the historic theater to the highest bidder, but some never got over feeling that the incident demonstrated that Norris doesn’t care about the downtown core.

Several people interviewed by the Herald said they wouldn’t publicly state their opposition to Norris for fear they might experience retribution.

“Just watch the Channel 10 recordings of that man running amok at the council meetings,” said Mike Reeves, Riedel’s husband. “My gosh, he’s a brute.”

Councilman John Cheney, who supported incumbent Skye Richendrfer in the last election rather than Norris, said that aggressiveness might just come with the territory.

“I’m afraid that’s the natural characteristic of someone who’s willing to stand up and do the job,” said Cheney, who plans to support Norris. “He pushes hard for the things that he knows that the city needs.”

Cheney suggested that competitive streak in Norris might hearken back to the mayor’s former success as a football player locally, at Washington State University and briefly for the Miami Dolphins.

“If I have something that I think needs to be done and I have a conviction about that goal or that particular issue, I work hard at it,” Norris said.

What remains to be seen is whether people who don’t like Norris will buy into Brevoort’s platform or consider her electable, or whether they will cast protest votes simply to demonstrate their disapproval of the current mayor.

Some supporting Brevoort believe in the necessity of the dialogue created when at least two people run for public office.

“I think every office should be contested,” said Laurie O’Connell, a Brevoort supporter. “And I feel Doris will put up a fight against the mayor.”