With filing week over, election season in Spokane County asks if voters want to shake up their cities
Medical Lake residents will be asked whether to re-elect a mayor determined to see the city grow and further developed, or a former mayor worried growth is outpacing the city’s capacity to pay for it and could start to price out current residents.
Mayor Terri Cooper is running for her second term, touting the work her office has done to secure grants and other state support she believes has put the city on a path to revitalization. She highlighted the recent acquisition of Medical Lake Waterfront Park, for example, which the city had leased from the state for decades under terms set to become more expensive but that will now be transferred to the city outright in 2026 under an agreement secured with support from the state legislature.
“I had a vision of creating Medical Lake as an outdoor recreation resort town that people would enjoy coming to enjoy the lakes and trails and beauty of our region,” Cooper said in a brief interview Friday. “The city had basically been in a state of deterioration for many years.”
Cooper said she’s proud of the work her staff and she have done to update local infrastructure and the city’s economic development plan, and boost local festivals and park events, so she’s seeking another four years to build on the foundation she feels she’s laid in the first four.
https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2025/may/09/with-filing-week-over-election-season-in-spokane-c/