After Four Decades of Service, Mayor Dennis Dawes to Step Away From City Council

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Chehalis Mayor Dennis Dawes is all about public service — just look at the last 40 or so years as proof.

He’s been a police chief, a city councilor, a school board member and even a school bus driver.

In recent years, it has been the city council that demanded much of his focus.

Standing in the empty city council chambers Tuesday, Dawes recounted the conversations and discussions he’s been involved in as an elected member of the city’s governing body.

Rarely do the members of the Chehalis City Council agree 100% on an issue. But Dawes said they’ve always fostered a culture dedicated to hearing people out, regardless of their opinions or beliefs, and then coming to a consensus.

Dawes, 66, a retired police chief, has decided to step away at the end of his term. He has chosen not to file to run for a fifth term on the Chehalis City Council and says he’s largely determined he’s finished with public office, though he plans to continue to find a way to be involved in the community in one way or another.

The decision marks the end of his mayoral run after eight years.

“I just ran for those offices because the public was good to me. I had a good job, good career, able to provide a good life for my family, for my boys as they grew up, my wife. I just felt it was one of the ways I could give back, and I learned a lot both serving on the school board and the council, and that time I was on the airport board,” he said.

His current term expires at the end of the year. The Chehalis City Council will vote for the new mayor at one of the first council meetings in January next year, following the November election when three at-large positions will be up for re-election.

Dawes said he thanks the council for allowing him to serve in his role as mayor for those eight years, during which there were more happy times than difficult.

“I’ve been on boards for 40 years, and sometimes on two boards at once, so there was a lot of meetings, but I don’t regret a minute of it. I’ve enjoyed it. It’s been challenging, and it’ll continue to be challenging, and that’s a good thing. If we’re not on our toes, things will catch up to us,” he said.

As a young man, Dawes said he didn’t have any desire to leave Chehalis.

“The grass didn’t look greener on the other side of the fence,” he said.

His love for the community kept him busy in the everyday happenings of Chehalis.

He’s also served as a longtime official calling local basketball and football games, but he doesn’t do that much anymore. He served on the former airport board back when it was under jurisdiction of multiple local municipalities, and worked for a brief stint as a bus driver with the Centralia School District.

Dawes went into law enforcement after obtaining his law enforcement degree from Centralia College. He said he was hired on by the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office as a deputy in 1976, and went to the city in 1978.

With the Chehalis Police Department, Dawes started out on patrol but worked his way up to detective and eventually police chief.



He retired from the top job in 2004. During much of his career, Dawes also served on the Chehalis School Board; he served six terms between 1983 and 2007, he said.

He was elected to the council in 2005, the year following his retirement from the police force.

“In terms of Mayor Dawes retiring, he has been a dedicated and knowledgeable public servant,” said City Manager Jill Anderson. “He will certainly be missed.”

Anderson said Dawes’ dedication to public service has been admirable. She highlighted his remarkable engagement within the council body and noted he has acted diplomatically in tough situations.

He also respects and acknowledges others’ perspectives, she said.

“He shows respect for everybody involved as he’s served on council and in his other roles,” she said.

Councilor Bob Spahr, who’s been involved in council activity since 1985, said Dawes’ voice on the council will be missed.

“I think Dennis has done a good job. He makes sure everyone has their say … He worked hard at it and has established himself using the time to be the mayor, it takes a lot of time. And he’s put in his time,” Spahr said.

Spahr noted he’s “known the family probably since before Dennis was born,” noting that the two attended the same high school in Chehalis and that Spahr used to frequent the Dawes family’s restaurant that once stood near the old bowling alley.

When asked about his most notable success while serving in Chehalis, Dawes answered with praise to the community and the voters who’ve helped lead the city forward.

“I just think that we’ve been very fortunate in this community to have a supporting community that’s given us some great facilities,” he said, mentioning recent community-led initiatives to improve the Westside Park playground and Lintott-Alexander Park. “It’s the quality of life issues that we’ve tried to make improvements on over the years, to make this a better place, trying to hold down costs as much as we can.”

Not much keeps Dawes up at night when it comes to his work, he said, but he has been worried about the passage of recent policing legislation passed at the state and national level following the death last year of George Floyd.

Dawes has a 3-year-old grandson. And though he didn’t say that family played a significant part in him announcing his retirement, he did rejoice about the possibility of seeing his grandson every day.

“I just don’t want to be away from them,” he said of his family.

He also confirmed the city will still have its fair share of challenges following his tenure. The city still hasn’t recovered from the effects of the Great Recession, he said, though the coronavirus pandemic has dealt only a slight blow to the city.

The largest challenge the city may face, he said, is the steady annexation of additional property into the city limits as the city continues to grow.