Eight Tigard City Council candidates offered competing plans to replace the city's aging police and public works buildings after voters rejected a $150 million bond in May.

The positions came in a Valley Times Q&A published Oct. 3, with Washington County set to mail ballots to voters on Wednesday, Oct. 14. Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3. All three seats are elected at-large, meaning every candidate appears on every Tigard ballot.

Measure 34-349, which would have funded a joint police and public works facility, failed in the May 19 election with more than 62% of voters opposed. The proposed tax rate was about 77 cents per $1,000 of assessed value, roughly $263 more per year for the average homeowner.

The current police station was built in 1984 for a population of 22,000. Tigard now has nearly 60,000 residents, and temporary modular buildings added in 1994 remain in use, according to city records. The Tigard Police Department responded to 42,461 calls in 2025, up 2,435 from the prior year, according to the department's annual report.

Every candidate agreed the facilities need replacing.

They disagreed on how.

Tigard Budget Committee member Yousef K. Allouzi called the situation "untenable" but said the city should pursue "a phased, progressive approach" rather than another large bond. Jeff Darland, also a Budget Committee member, said the bond showed "a real disconnect" and suggested keeping the police station downtown for faster response times.

Kate Ristau, who chairs the Tigard Library Board, said she supported addressing the building needs but had concerns about the bond's scope. "When people can barely afford groceries, we need to be careful about asking them for more money," Ristau said in the Q&A.

Former councilor John Goodhouse, who served eight years on the council including as council president, said the police department "has made due with a failing building for years close to decades," leading to problems with records storage and officer recruitment.

Sue Garino, an 18-year Tigard Police Department veteran and Summerfield resident, said the city should "listen to residents and the business community, respect the voters' decision, and explore creative, affordable solutions," including building one facility at a time.

Appointed incumbent Tom Anderson pointed to phased construction and greater site flexibility. Gabriel Elijio Velásquez, who chairs the Town Center Advisory Commission, called for bringing evidence storage in-house to cut rental costs. Shawne Martinez, a Transportation Advisory Committee volunteer who bikes about 8,000 miles a year, focused on density and housing-first strategies.

On housing, the candidates also diverged. Allouzi cited River Terrace as an example of $700,000 homes sitting empty until out-of-state investors buy them to rent at high rates. Anderson pointed to affordable housing planned for the Tigard Triangle and River Terrace 2.0 developments. Darland said he would support restoring the Library Social Services Coordinator position, eliminated by the city, which had connected at-risk residents with services.

Mayor Yi-Kang Hu said at the July 28 council meeting, after the bond defeat, that the city would form a citizens committee before bringing another facilities proposal to voters. "For major projects like this, we need to work with the people, not ahead of the people," Hu said at the time.

A City Council Candidate Showcase is scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 20 at 6 p.m. at the Tigard Public Library. The three winning candidates will serve four-year terms starting Jan. 1, 2027.