Dayton Mayor Craig George to Resign

DAYTON-There is a for sale sign on Kathy and Craig George's lawn on S. 2nd St. in Dayton.

Craig George has announced that he will resign his post early next year as Dayton's mayor. He told The Times that he and his wife, Kathy, will be moving to Tucson, Ariz., to enjoy the health benefits of living in a drier climate. He said they are in the process of having a home built in the gated community of Saddle Brooke Ranch, north of Tucson.

"This is the first time we have really bought anything for us. We haven't had the kids in mind, or we haven't had the Navy in mind. This is just for us," said Kathy George.

The Georges said they will miss their Dayton friends, but are looking forward to making new friends in Tucson.

"We were amazed we stayed as long as we did," said Craig George about their 17 years in Dayton.

George is a retired Navy Commander. The George family moved many times during his career, living first in San Diego, then in Allentown, Pa., Washington DC, Okinawa, Japan, Minneapolis, Belgium, where George was attached to a military arm of NATO, and finally in Chicago.

"Then I retired in 1987," he said. "The two older kids were in college and we all agreed we wanted to go back to Minneapolis, because we enjoyed that the most of any place we lived."

They moved to Minneapolis, but the plane trip to visit children grew tiresome, so they decided to move closer to their three children, Thomas, Trini, and Heidi.

"By this time our children were married. We had a son in Seattle. We had a daughter in Lake Chelan. We had another daughter, and she was in North Carolina," said George, who is a Seattle native. Washington State won out.

"Kathy insisted we live east of the mountains," he said.

The Georges began looking for their new home, and Dayton was one of the places they visited. In the fall of 2001, the Georges saw an ad in the real estate section of the Walla Walla Union Bulletin for the house on S. 2nd St. It is a Victorian home, built in 1871, and it appealed to Kathy.

They wrapped things up in Minneapolis and made their final move to Dayton in the summer of 2002.

"That's funny that a house would bring you to a town," said Kathy George, whose passion is home interiors and gardening. She said she worked extra hard getting to know people, in Dayton.

"Craig is the outgoing one. I am not," she said. "I knew I was going to have to be more outgoing for me to feel comfortable in town. I would take our two dogs for a walk or sit in the garden to work, and every time a car went by I waved and said 'hi'."

During her time in Dayton, Kathy George has served in her church, quilted, and read to first graders at the elementary school. She has served in PEO, on the Dayton Historic Preservation Commission, and in the Elizabeth Forrest Day Club, all the while improving her home and yard.

Mayor George has been equally busy for the past 17 years. "It seems like he is going to meetings all the time," said Kathy George.

Mayor George said he had been attending city council meetings when then Mayor Bill Graham let him know about two upcoming vacancies on the council. He ran and won a seat, serving for four years, before being elected mayor in 2007.

As Dayton's mayor, George has been active in the Association of Washington Cities. He was the AWC president in 2014 and served on its board until last year. Because of his connections through AWC, Dayton is more familiar to people throughout the state, and their response to Dayton is very warm, he said.

"That makes it feel like it's worth it," he added.

George is also a senior warden at Grace Episcopal Church. He is active in Dayton Kiwanis and he serves on the County's Civil Service Commission, as well as on the executive board for the Columbia County Public Transportation System.

He said there have been many accomplishments since becoming mayor, especially since the city was able to form a Transportation Improvement Benefit District.

"Together with the city council we have really been able to upgrade our infrastructure, particularly street work, over the years," he said. "We have been successful in getting grants from the state, and that's a combination of the council and the staff working together."

He also pointed to the success of the city's dog park, which he attributed to Christine Broughton on the city council, and the Friends of the Dayton Dog Park.

"You go up there now and there is usually always somebody up there," he said.

"I think another thing is in the last few years there have been more county/city partnerships than there were before," George said.

George said future planned city improvements include fully automated sprinklers in the city park, and a new state-of the-art wastewater treatment facility.

"We have continued to grow because if you stay steady you are going to fall back. It seems like each year we have been able to get a little bit more done," he said.

"It kind of goes back to three things people want: their trash picked up, their toilet flushed, and they want water, and we have been able to keep that going," George said. "I think it's a great little town and that makes you feel good."

Mayor George's current term expires at the end of next year. When he resigns, a mayor pro tem will fill the remainder of his term. A new mayor will be elected in November 2019.