B.G. Mayor's Only Challenge Is … Me?

Battle Ground Mayor Lisa Walters’ frankness was one of the attributes her fellow council members told me they revered about her prior to her appointment as mayor last month.

I encountered this trait firsthand Tuesday when I met her for the first time in person at city hall. Prior to our meeting, I had spoken with her four or five times on the phone.

During those phone conversations, she conveyed a sense of reluctance about being the public face of the city council. She preferred working behind the scenes, she told me.

On Tuesday, I asked her what challenges she had encountered in her first month as mayor, expecting her to talk about how her new position differed from her previous role.

“You’ve been my only challenge,” she said.

Me? I admitted to being caught off guard.

She wondered what I really wanted when I called her, she said. At one point, she said my journalistic efforts reminded her of The Enquirer — not a ringing endorsement.

After the air cleared, Walters and I spoke for around 90 minutes about the importance she places on family, her desire to see Battle Ground retain its small town charm amid business growth and the challenges women face in government.

She described her transition from the council to the city’s appointed mayor as “pretty effortless.” I’d say. If I am her biggest challenge, her time as mayor will be a breeze.