Women of the Year: Rising to the occasion, Medical Lake Mayor Terri Cooper leads wildfire recovery efforts

Terri Cooper has been working toward something her entire life, but until recently she just wasn’t sure what that might be.

From being a young mom, working in banking, attending college as a working mom, working in the criminal justice system, doing disaster relief work in Africa, rebuilding her home after a house fire, to starting a nonprofit to build community in Medical Lake and becoming mayor, Cooper, 62, thrived when she was serving others.

All those steps along the way fell into place to prepare her for the biggest crisis Medical Lake has ever faced: the Gray fire.

“I couldn’t imagine anybody else sitting in her chair,” said Gerri Johnson, Cooper’s sister and who is the co-founder of ReImagine Medical Lake and recently was elected to the Medical Lake School Board. “I think she trained for her whole life for the adversity of this moment.”

Cooper moved to Medical Lake when her dad retired from the Air Force. She married her high school sweetheart, Ken Cooper, right after graduation.

They have three children.

Cooper raised those kids with her sister Gerri Johnson, who was also a young mom. Both women remember struggling to make ends meet with young kids and how nice it was to have something free to go do.

With her kids heading to school, Cooper started working her way up in the banking industry from a teller to working as a loan officer. But as her career progressed, Cooper said she started thinking about having a broader impact.

She went to college as a working mom and began working as a court administrator in Medical Lake in 1998. By 2004, she had become a lay judicial officer, working as a court commissioner in Cheney.

In 2008, she started the Cheney Youth Court, which is an alternative court for young people who get traffic tickets.

She remained involved in the community, especially as the first of her 11 grandchildren were born.

With her kids out of the house, Cooper and Johnson looked around their community and thought there could be more. More community events, more small businesses, and more people enjoying the area’s trails and lakes.

So they founded ReImagine Medical Lake as a “community revitalization project,” Cooper said.

The sisters threw free festivals, something they as young moms with tight budgets appreciated years ago.

“We were struggling, as a young family for sure financially, and just every penny had to count,” Cooper said. “And so festivals and going to the lake and the outdoors and those things that you can do for free were important to us.”

Fall Festival, Winter Festival and Founders Day became a chance not only for fun but to built trust in the community that they could come together and make things happen, Johnson said.

Cooper was the festival director, even transforming into Mrs. and Mr. Clause with her husband during Winter Festival.

After years investing in the nonprofit, Cooper and Johnson felt they could only make so much progress without governmental support. So Cooper ran for mayor and was elected in 2021.

She took office in January 2022. Since then, Cooper has sought and received more than $4.5 million in grants and appropriations to improve infrastructure like streets, sidewalks and parking, among other things.

“Mayor Cooper has overseen amazing and unifying collaborations that bridge culture, religion and socioeconomic status through financial support of Medical Lake Outreach, the local food bank, Dollars for Scholars, and numerous other charities in our community,” wrote Chad Pritchard, the Medical Lake City council member who nominated her for Women of the Year.

Cooper helped lay the foundation for a tight-knit community. And then the moment came when it was needed more than ever.

When the Gray fire destroyed hundreds of homes in the Medical Lake area this summer she sprung into action, spotting issues only a local would see, such as how the lack of internet at Lakeland Villlage and Eastern State Hospital would create an inability to dispense vital medicine or how road blocks needed to be adapted to allow employees at the facilities to get to work.

“She rises to the occasion,” Johnson said.

And isn’t scared to ask for what she needs, Johnson added.

“We’ve had people all of our lives say, How did you get that done?” Johnson said. “You got to ask.”

After the smoke cleared, Cooper stepped up to lead the Spokane Region Long Term Recovery Group, a group that works with governments and nonprofits to meet unmet recovery needs.

Of the 240 homes that were destroyed by the Gray fire, 54 were within the Medical Lake city limits, but Cooper felt the responsibility to help everyone in the area.

“What other mayor would have said, ‘I’ll take all 240?’ ” Johnson said.

Cooper decided to retire early from her work as a court commissioner at the end of October to devote more time to her work as mayor and recovery efforts. The position of mayor in Medical Lake is only paid for part-time work.

Having had a house fire that damaged her home several years ago, Cooper knew some of the insurance process and the emotions people go through when losing the things that mean most to them.

“We could understand some of the impact,” Cooper said.

In her role leading recovery efforts, Cooper is balancing helping her constituents feel heard with navigating the red tape and advocacy needed to get funds for recovery efforts.

“She’s such an extraordinary leader,” said Sonny Weathers, city administrator. “Having that voice to share pointed conversations with higher elected leaders, it takes the right person to be able to do that and she has handled that extremely well and she’s persistent. She doesn’t settle for second best. She puts it all out there.”