Editor,
I’m Joe DePinto, and it has been the honor of my life to serve as mayor of Yelm for the past four years. When I took office, I first had to bring stability and professionalism back to city hall after years of turnover and entrenched good‑ole‑boy politics. We rebuilt a steady, experienced team, implemented clearer policies, modernized operations and restored ethical, accountable leadership so residents can rely on their local government again.
Over these four years, we increased funding for public safety to historic levels, deployed body cameras, doubled officer training hours, expanded our SWAT representation and by the end of this budget cycle we will have two officers on duty at all times. We moved forward on long‑delayed transportation projects like the Yelm Loop (construction bids go out in a few weeks), secured funding for new roundabouts, started planning for the Southern Loop and explored new ideas like a JBLM access gate and a new bridge over the Nisqually River.
We protected taxpayers while investing in our future. I kept my promise not to raise property taxes, and I make that same promise again for my second term. We were able to secure historic levels of state and federal grant funding, improve Yelm’s credit rating to AA (the highest in our city’s history), and grew our local economy. We completed major infrastructure projects: the new water tower by Walmart, a $37M Water Reclamation Facility renovation, Yelm’s first dog park, a new downtown parking lot, and all Yelm City Park upgrades, including paving the old gravel lot, putting up a fence, adding solar on the Community Center, EV chargers, Yelm Centennial Stage, and built a wheelchair-accessible swing.
We dramatically expanded recreational opportunities: city‑sponsored events grew from just two to nearly 100 a year. I’m also very excited and committed to building the Yelm Athletic Complex (YAC) so we have more park space and ballfields for both youth and adults. It will also include an indoor aquatics center with a swimming pool, something this community has requested for years.
