Kent mayor honors fallen pilot during State of the City address

Published 3:56 pm Friday, March 20, 2026

It was a solemn start to Kent Mayor Dana Ralph’s State of the City address as she paid respect to fallen U.S. Air Force Capt. Ariana Savino.

Savino, 31, of Covington, a 2013 Kentwood High School graduate, was one of six airmen killed when their KC-135 refueling aircraft crashed March 12 in western Iraq during the war against Iran. Ralph said that Savino’s family calls Kent home today.

“She was known as someone who lifted up others, a leader, a role model, someone who inspired those around her to dream bigger and reach higher,” Ralph said March 19 to begin her speech at the city’s new Kent East Hill Operations Center. “She served with courage, flew hundreds of combat hours, and dedicated her life to something greater than herself. Her family shared that she died doing what she loved most, flying. It was in her blood. Her dad was a captain. It’s what Ariana always wanted to do.”

Ralph delivered the emotional words to a standing-room only crowd that filled the portable seats lined up inside one of the new warehouses at the facility, 12607 SE 248th St., scheduled to open later this spring. The words came just after the audience had heard a powerful rendition of the national anthem by Joe Araucto, a city public works engineer supervisor, to begin the event.

“We know, and her family knows that her spirit will live forever on in the skies that she cherished so much,” Ralph said as photos of Savino appeared behind her on a large screen. “And here in Kent, we feel that loss with them. Tonight, we honor her life. We honor her service. and we stand with her family, her mom and dad, her sister, her brother, and all of the friends Ariana loved and supported.”

The mayor asked the audience to join her in a moment of silence.

Ralph delivered one final comment about Savino.

“Ariana’s service reminds us of what it truly means to invest in something greater than ourselves,” said Ralph as she choked up. “And I know that her memory will absolutely live on in everyone in this community.”

New facility

Ralph typically delivers her State of the City address at the Kent-Meridian Performing Arts Center, but chose the city’s $47 million Kent East Hill Operations Center for her ninth annual speech at the start of her third four-year term.

“We are so excited to be here in our brand new Kent East Hill Operations Center or as we affectionately call it KEHOC,” Ralph said about the acronym.

It almost seemed like Ralph would lead the crowd in a chant of “KE-HOC,” similar to the Seattle Seahawks’ fans well-known chant of “Sea-Hawks.” But that didn’t happen. Later on, however, she did mention the Super Bowl champion Seahawks, their teamwork, planning and success, similar she said to what it takes for the city to succeed.

The new operations center will provide much-needed space for portions of the Public Works, Parks and Police departments, although the city also will continue to use the old operations facility in the Valley along South 240th Street near Russell Road.

“Long term, investing before the need becomes urgent, is exactly why we’re standing here tonight,” Ralph said as she spoke from atop a large empty trailer to elevate her above the crowd. “The story of this building, KEHOC, follows the same philosophy. This facility represents something bigger than a building. It represents a city that plans ahead. The seeds of this facility were planted more than 25 years ago when Kent’s leaders recognized that our community was growing and that our infrastructure needed to grow with it.”

Ralph said the city purchased the nearly 22 acres in 1999 with a simple idea.

“One day, Kent would need a modern operations center built for a city that we were becoming,” she said. “Tonight, we’re standing in foresight. And that mindset, planning and investing before the need becomes urgent, is the thread running through everything we do here in the city of Kent.”

High credit rating

Ralph often will reveal some breaking news during her annual speech. She had one such report this year.

”Just this last week, the city of Kent received the highest possible credit credit rating, a triple A, from S&P Global,” she said. “That is like saying, I’ve got an over 800 credit score, right? What we all are striving for. We are among select a group of cities nationwide with that strongest financial rating. The rating reflects years of careful planning, strong financial policies and responsible decision-making across the organization.”

New York-based S&P Global, a leading American provider of financial information, analytics, and credit ratings, issued the rating in a March 16 report. It raised the city’s long-term rating to AAA from AA-plus on Kent’s previously issued limited-tax general obligation (GO) bonds.

“We also assigned our AAA long-term rating to the city’s anticipated $86.5 million series 2026 limited-tax GO bonds,” according to the report, which called the city’s outlook stable.

“The higher rating reflects what we view as a sustainable long-term build-up in reserves due to robust economic growth and the city’s willingness to use revenue flexibility,” according to the report. “We think this makes it easier for the city to maintain structurally balanced general fund operations in the context of equilibrium in the operating losses of an events center (accesso ShoWare Center) that was intended to be self-supporting ahead of its 2009 launch.”

The city covers annual operating losses at its ShoWare Center, which hit $1.o6 million in 2024, from its general fund.

S&P Global also looked at the impact of natural disasters.

“We view the city as facing elevated physical risks associated with earthquakes and flooding, although its buildings were generally engineered in the past 30 years with stronger building standards and a regional flood control district has developed a levee system to manage flood risk associated with the Green River, which runs through the city,” according to the report. “We consider social and governance factors neutral in our credit analysis.”

S&P said it could lower the rating “if a recession scenario or a major increase in Kent’s event center contributions causes a major budgetary imbalance without an effective and timely response by the city. We also could lower the rating if the set of capital projects funded by the series 2026 spurred unexpected major cost overruns that required significant general fund contributions that reduced available reserves.”

Ralph described the impact of the high rating.

“It means that we can borrow at lower interest rates, saving taxpayers dollars when we invest in infrastructure, public safety, and community facilities,” she said. “It means that we are stretching every dollar further.”

The mayor said steps were taken to achieve the excellent rating.

“During a period of record inflation, we made deliberate decisions to maintain a status quo budget unless new initiatives were paired with dedicated revenue or offset reductions,”Ralph said. “It meant that we spent one-time money on one-time things, not on ongoing programs.

“That discipline gives us the stability to invest confidently in our growth. It also gives us something just as important, credibility. Because when we manage our finances this way, people pay attention, employers pay attention and industries looking to grow pay attention.”

The city is using general obligation bonds to help fund its $63 million Municipal Campus Relocation Project over the next couple of years.

That project includes newly remodeled offices at space the city purchased at the CenterPoint Corporate Park, 20610 68th Ave. S., in North Kent; a remodeled Centennial Center, 400 W. Gowe St., to be the new police headquarters; a full interior renovation of the current police facility into the new home of Council Chambers and offices; and demolition of the current City Hall, 220 Fourth Ave. S., to be replaced with a new civic plaza.