To the editor:

After 30-plus years in Langley, serving two terms on the Greater Langley Chamber of Commerce after incorporating that organization about 1974, and personally knowing every mayor since 1971, Mayor Paul Samuelson has acquitted himself well in these troubling times. He is bright, well-spoken and a hard worker.

Besides my terms as president, I spent many years on the chamber board and was involved in Langley activities and politics until my retirement some four years ago.

I thought the article in the March 2 Record on the forum to be presented by the League of Women Voters was well-balanced, and that the reasons why Federal Way voted out the “council/manager” form of government applies to Langley.

I used to live on Bainbridge Island when the strong-mayor form was utilized, but then it was the town of Winslow — not the entire island. The job became too much for one person, and the issues demanded the expertise and skills of a well-educated (master’s degree at least) city manager, and the greater cost could be spread amongst all the island’s voters.

Langley can’t afford this form of government (council/manager). Paul has made the strong-mayor job a full-time effort, and you are lucky to have him.

John M. Watson

Langley