With the start of her third four-year term this month, Kent Mayor Dana Ralph is on her way to becoming one of the four longest-serving mayors in the city’s 135-year history.
Ralph will reach the 12-year mark by the end of this term in 2029. That would tie her with Jim White Sr. and Suzette Cooke for the second-longest mayoral terms in city history. Isabel Hogan, who served 16 years from 1969 to 1985, has the longest tenure, according to city records.
White served from 1994 to 2005 and Cooke from 2006 to 2017. Neither one ran for a fourth term.
Voters elected Ralph mayor in 2017 over Jim Berrios. Voters reelected her in 2021 over Dawn Bennett and in 2025 when she ran unopposed. Ralph served on the City Council from 2012 to 2017.
“Thank you to the community for putting your trust in me to continue on as mayor of the city I love so much,” Ralph said after her swearing in during the Jan. 6 City Council meeting. “I am grateful for the trust and I am committed to doing the very best for the city every day.”
City flood response
Ralph also thanked city employees for their work during the flood event that struck Kent last month.
“I want to take a moment to say thank you to every single one of our city employees,” Ralph said. “We had a significant weather event and all employees showed up in a way that was truly exceptional.”
Ralph said employees from every department stepped in to do what was needed.
Pat Fitzpatrick, city chief administrative officer, echoed the mayor’s remarks about the city’s response to the flooding.
“I would note every single department engaged in this process,” Fitzpatrick said during his report to the council. “City operations remained normal the whole time. This was a learning experience and we stood up and took care of it.”
Fitzpatrick said there were emergencies handled by Kent even outside of the city limits.
“We were able get Highway 167 open way earlier than it would have opened because of city of Kent employees,” Fitzpatrick said about the 6-mile closure between Kent and Auburn due to flooding. “We kept the city going, with employees working an immense amount of hours. …24 hours we were going for many many days.”
Fitzpatrick thanked Kent-based Puget Sound Fire for its help.
Fitzpatrick said city staff plans to give the council a full report about what happened and how the city handled the emergency, possibly on Jan. 20 or on a later date.
Ralph said she even heard from city Public Works employees that they received a Kent Police escort to help respond quicker to repair a Green River levee.
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