JW Foster has a long resume as a City of Yelm official, and after a hiatus from local politics since 2021, the former councilor and mayor announced his bid to become mayor of Yelm later this year.
Foster previously served on the Yelm City Council after being elected in 2011 and re-elected in 2015. He was appointed interim mayor in August 2016, and in 2017, he narrowly defeated Yelm’s current mayor, Joe DePinto, to become Yelm’s elected mayor. After serving as mayor for four years, Foster announced he wouldn’t pursue a second term.
In 2024, Foster pursued a spot on the Thurston County Board of Commissioners, but was defeated by Democrat Rachel Dreon in an election last year. After announcing his bid for mayor to the Nisqually Valley News on Monday, March 10, Foster said he feels his calling is at the local government level.
It was never on Foster’s bucket list to ascend to the position of mayor like he did in 2016 when appointed and in 2017 when elected, he said. Once he was initially elected nearly eight years ago, Foster said there was work to be done. When asked about his bid to run to become mayor of Yelm again, Foster said that his decision is “not a short answer.”
“I served the city on the parks committee for years, and then the planning commission for years, and then city council starting in 2011. I became mayor in 2016 when our mayor, Mayor Harding, left. The other members of the council elected me to the interim position. Then, I was elected to a full four-year term in 2017,” Foster said. “I became a 365-day a year lifestyle mayor. That’s how I think this mayor’s job should be treated: as a full time representative of the people in the local government, and being a regional cheerleader for our small community.”
During his time as Yelm’s mayor, Foster said he secured water rights “virtually in the last minute” of his term, and that the city began a rebuild of the wastewater treatment facility, which will be completed later this year.
“We had to do things like lower water rates, build more sidewalks and public amenities for growth that was happening to Yelm, whether we liked it or not. Here comes the growth, and we had to be ready for it,” Foster said. “I had to nurture the city through the COVID pandemic and all of the things associated with that. During that time, we managed to present the council with a balanced budget. We supported our local businesses by getting in federal dollars for them.”
Foster said there was a lot of work done to keep Yelm thriving throughout his five years as the city’s mayor. At the end of his term, Foster and his wife decided to “take a breath and take a break” as they tried to get back to the basics of being grandpa and grandma to their family.
“We did some family projects we’ve been putting off for a while. A year and a half or so into it, we realized maybe it’s time to get back to work,” Foster said. “We’d still been doing all of the community service activities.”
Eventually, Foster’s drive to serve arose and the former mayor ran a campaign in pursuit of becoming Thurston County commissioner of District No. 2. Foster ran as an independent against Rachel Grant, a Democrat who ultimately won the race.
Foster said he believes Thurston County voters weren’t looking to elect an independent to the Thurston County commissioner seat during the last election cycle.
“The universe told me, ‘maybe you do best when you work in your own backyard,’” Foster said. “That’s what we’ve decided to do, is to get back to work for Yelm in a way we know we’re good at, and we have the time and energy to be good at it. We have some challenges coming up where I think my leadership would serve the city well.
“Since I’ve retired as mayor, the people in the community — business leaders and owners, regular citizens — have just been encouraging me to come back and be mayor again. They liked the way I led the community, and they’d like to see me in that position again. I’m answering the call.”
If elected, Foster said his biggest point of emphasis would be to control the growth Yelm is seeing and experiencing “at all aspects.”
“We don’t have the right to say no to people who want to come live in our community or around us. But we do have the responsibility to serve everybody well. I think that’s the challenge of the next decade as this city grows into the size it’s destined to be,” Foster said. “We have to make sure the infrastructure is there. We have to make sure we have a safe town for people to be in, and that means good roads. We have to be a loud voice with the state Legislature and Thurston Regional Planning Council to make sure our road projects are prioritized. All roads lead through Yelm.”
Foster and Yelm’s current mayor, Joe DePinto, previously ran against each other for the position in 2017. Foster narrowly defeated DePinto by just 14 votes. After deciding to campaign for the mayoral position, Foster said DePinto was the first call he made.
“I called Joe and told him I’m going to be running again, and he acknowledged he’d probably run as well,” Foster said. “I’m actually kind of surprised he doesn’t want to do something like a state Legislature position. I was surprised he didn’t run for it this last time. That’s where he has a lot of expertise, as he works as a lobbyist for some clients with the state Legislature. I don’t know what his future holds.”
The former mayor said he’s always ran clean campaigns and will be respectful of DePinto and his reelection campaign.
“I just think we’re different people who have different leadership styles,” Foster said. “I believe that my style of leadership, my experience, my ability to be that collaborator of people, is the kind of leadership that Yelm is looking for now.”
