Kluthe hopes cooperation will mark mayorship

by Nathan Arneal
published 9/02/09

Ten months after deciding to run for City Council as a write-in candidate, Jeff Kluthe finds himself sitting in the mayor’s chair. His quick ascension within the North Bend government caught him by surprise.

“My plate was pretty full,” he said, laughing. “I thought there would be a lot more time (before becoming mayor).”

Kluthe, a native of Clarkson, moved to North Bend six years ago. At the time he was working at gas stations his family owned in Clarkson and Leigh, while his wife Michelle worked in Fremont. North Bend split the difference between the two jobs, so that’s where they settled.

“I grew up in a small community and thought that it was nice,” said Kluthe, 38. “I like the quietness.”

Now Michelle and he live in the west end of North Bend with three children, Colby, 11; Logan, 10; and Sierra, 6.

After working for a freight broker business for a few years, he started his own company in March, dubbing it A2Z Transportation.

Running for city government is something that had crossed his mind before, but he thought it would wait until his kids were older. When he saw last fall that nobody was running for an empty Council seat, he decided that the time to get involved had come.

“It’s just to help the community,” he said. “If you’re going to be here you should know about what’s going on and have a say-so and take things in the right direction.”

Kluthe will lead a City Council whose longest tenured member has been serving two years. The rest of the Council, including Kluthe, has taken office since last December.

Kluthe admits that the Council is lacking experience, but he said they will make up for it by using plain common sense.

“As far as experience, we may be a little young,” he said. “But as far as open-mindedness, listening to people and not rushing to judgment, we have the best Council I could ever want. I actually feel great about this Council.”
One of Kluthe’s first acts as mayor will be to nominate someone to fill the Council seat he left vacant when becoming mayor. At Tuesday’s meeting, he nominated Tim Blackmon for the Council’s consideration.

Kluthe wants to build a friendly relationship between the citizens of North Bend and their city government. He also wants people to feel at ease in approaching the Council.

“There will be challenges, of course, but being a people person and listening to people and trying to help, that will be the easy thing for me,” Kluthe said.

As for his new job atop the North Bend city government, Kluthe hopes cooperation and openness will make the challenge ahead of him a manageable one.

“It’s only going to be as challenging as a guy makes it, I think,” he said. “If you just take a step back and look at things, hear people, and try and help people where you can, I don’t think it’s going to be hard as people think.”

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