Dear Citizens of Tenino,
Over the past two years, the City of Tenino has made major progress stabilizing and strengthening our financial operations. We completed the reconciliation of our budgets for fiscal years 2020 through 2024—work that required sustained effort to ensure our records are accurate, complete, and transparent. We also completed Washington State audits for the same years, and the results show clear improvement: audit outcomes that once included significant findings have been corrected, culminating in no findings for 2024. You can view audit reports on the Washington State Auditor’s Office Audit Reports page. Washington State Auditor
With this work, we have stabilized our budget—but we are now facing the requirement to pay back the debt identified through our reconciliation and audits, which totals $1.6 million. In 2026, we will have to make difficult decisions about how we provide services so this debt can be repaid responsibly.
Please always feel free to contact me, and you can follow our work at the Tenino City Council Meetings.
Thank You,
David Watterson
Office of the Mayor
The Mayor is elected every four years independently of the City Council. To be eligible for election, the Mayor must meet the same criteria as Councilmembers.
While Mayors often propose and develop policies, their basic responsibility is to carry out the council's directives and to implement the policies adopted by the council. The Mayor also provides the leadership necessary to keep the city moving in the proper direction. Mayors also serve as facilitators of effective teamwork, and in Tenino, the Mayor appoints and supervises three Department Heads: The Chief of Police, the Clerk/Treasurer, and the Director of Public Works. Jointly, these four people constitute "the Administration" of the City.