Meet Carl Florea, Mayor of Leavenworth

Florea has led Leavenworth since 2020, steering the small town through growth and change. Now serving his second term, Florea prioritizes tackling challenges like housing affordability, upgrading infrastructure, and balancing the needs of Leavenworth’s residents with its booming tourism industry.

Florea has focused on addressing community needs throughout his career, including directing Upper Valley MEND, where he launched a program for permanently affordable homeownership. His concern over Leavenworth’s housing challenges, driven by its tourism economy, inspired him to serve on the planning commission, city council, and ultimately run for mayor in 2019 to champion sustainable housing solutions.

Recently we caught up with Florea to learn more about his insights on Leavenworth’s future, its challenges and opportunities.

Florea brings a wealth of experience to the role, including years of work in housing advocacy and community development. 

How long have you been in this role?

I was elected in November 2019 and started my first term in 2020, re-elected in 2023, so I am about one year into my second term.

What makes Leavenworth unique, and how do you plan to leverage these qualities for the city's growth?

Leavenworth is unique in that we remain a small community of about 2,500 residents that hosts over 3,000,000 visiting guests on a yearly basis. So that means we function more like a city with a population of 20,000 in terms of the services we must provide and infrastructure we must have in place. But it also provides us with amenities like many varied restaurants that most small-town communities our size cannot usually support. Our strong economic engine means that we can provide for our residents, but it also means that we are so popular that we are in danger of losing our community through displacement as we draw in more people wanting to own a second home in Leavenworth. Second homes now make up nearly 40% of our housing stock, and that is not sustainable for any community. We want our growth to benefit our community, not be a detriment to it. 

What specific sectors or industries do you believe hold the most promise for Leavenworth's economic future, and how do you plan to support their growth?

We understand that tourism will always be one of the biggest drivers for our economic future. That being said, we are interested in expanding our commercial and light industrial spaces outside our City’s Bavarian downtown core. I could see the potential for some light manufacturing that connects to the tourism industry, with an outdoor focused product. There are also businesses that are conducted largely online - we can offer their workforce natural beauty and outdoor activities that would make a relocation attractive to them. We saw this occurring during the pandemic when people who could work from home decided that Leavenworth was a better place to telework than the bigger cities.

What motivated you to pursue a career in public service?

I have always had a strong focus on serving my community. When I had a young family, I served on the board for the Cascade School District and even coached or officiated sports for all three of my sons. I began with Upper Valley MEND to address the needs of the community in 1988 and served as its director until 2007.  Starting out, I became increasingly concerned about housing and the impact our popular tourism economy was having on affordability. Because of this I was encouraged to get on the planning commission, which I did. While at MEND I started a permanently affordable home ownership program using the community land trust model. I served two different stints on the city council before leaving Leavenworth for about six years in 2007. I moved back in 2013 to serve as the administrator of Cornerstone Community, an adult family home for developmentally disabled adults.  Seeing how little had been done to expand our workforce housing is what inspired me to run for mayor in 2019.

What's the most important lesson you've learned so far in your role as mayor?

I have learned many lessons over the years, and I don’t know if I could determine the most important one, but I do know that an important lesson that stays with me is that nothing worth doing is going to be easy or quick to accomplish. Everything takes longer than I think it should at the start. The important thing is to stay focused on what your goals are, and know why you are doing what you do, and then being persistent in your pursuit of those goals and letting go of an outcome that you really can’t control.

What does a normal day look like as mayor?

What I enjoy about being a mayor is that there really is no such thing as a normal day.  There are simply so many things needing attention, such a variety of issues, challenges, and meetings.  With a number of evening meetings, I do try to get away from the office by mid-afternoon on most days. My wife reminds me that this is not a full-time job, and I am supposed to be semi-retired. But when you enjoy what you do, and are pursuing things that are meaningful to you, it’s easy to give the effort.

What is your favorite part of your job and why?

I got involved because of how meaningful community is to me.  And what makes a city a true community is its diversity: diversity of people, ages, backgrounds, ethnicities, and religions. So, my favorite part is getting to interact with so many different people on things that are important to them. I enjoy meeting with students, seniors, new residents, local agency partners, and the diverse range of visitors.

What are the biggest challenges facing Leavenworth currently, and how do you plan to address them?

Like a lot of communities, Leavenworth is dealing with an aging infrastructure system with water and sewer pipes that need to be replaced, and in some cases, upsized. In addition, we have the added demands put on our systems by the millions of visitors we host each year. With a high influx of visitors brings the need to address adequate parking for everyone, visitors and residents alike. But there is no greater challenge facing Leavenworth, in my mind, than our current housing crisis and the fact that so many who contribute to the health and well-being of our town and its economy can no longer afford to live here. We are beginning to address our infrastructure needs with an integrated capital improvement plan, and our housing needs by allowing for a variety of different housing types on smaller lots.  But ultimately, to really address our housing needs it will take a funding stream that allows us to allocate dollars and put into place more restrictions on who gets to purchase those housing units funded by those dollars. 

What are the key goals you hope to achieve for Leavenworth in the near future?

Since I was elected, I have been working with the state legislature to pass a funding stream that is significant enough that we can apply it to housing and end the pushing of our workforce out of our community. This would be healthier for our businesses, for the environment, and for our visitors who love to come because we still have a community base here to welcome them. If I can get approval from the state to add some kind of funding stream, such as an additional lodging tax, that would be paid by our city’s guests, we could use those tax dollars to keep our small city a diverse community. I would gladly pass the torch to the next mayor to carry out the implementation of that funding stream.

Who or what inspires you?

There have been a number of teachers and mentors to whom I am indebted. But none had more impact on me than my mom, whose name was Grace, and who embodied that name in how she treated not only me, but everyone. Failure in her eyes was never an end, and never what defined the person, but an opportunity to try again. Her life pointed me to Christ, and it is Jesus who has provided me with my ultimate inspiration to treat all people as children of God and worthy of love.  It is also what led me to work with people who are often forced to the fringes of society and struggle with situations that can rob them of their personal power and dignity.

What do you like to do with your free time?

I grew up in a big card playing family, and with our children we added board games as well, so we still try to get those in when we gather. I also like to read, ride my bike, and cross-country ski.

Is there anything else you want our readers to know?

Each week I invite people to come and have a coffee beverage with me on a Monday morning, or a cold beer on a Monday evening, this is a casual “GYOB (grab your own beverage)” style meet-up so something else entirely is just fine, too. Anyone is welcome to come and talk about anything that is on their mind concerning the city. The times and places for these can be found on the City’s online calendar located on our website at www.cityofleavenworth.com.  

Quinn Propst: 509-731-3590 or quinn@ward.media