It’s been five years since the Covington-Maple Valley Reporter published its first edition, Sept. 7, 2005 and by some miracle I am still here.

Change is the only thing we can count on and much has changed here over the years. It seems I, somehow, remain the only constant and that never ceases to amaze me.

Both in Covington and Maple Valley the city managers who were here when the paper began have moved on to private sector jobs. Both cities now have new city managers. And both cities have seen a fair amount of change on their city councils as well as staff.

Maple Valley has grown and grown. There are now more than 23,000 people here. Covington has crafted a downtown core on Kent Kangley Road that has brought Kohl’s, Costco, Home Depot, Red Robin, The Rock, Applebee’s and others to an area that was sorely underserved. And surely there is room for more commercial development in Covington as Maple Valley works with Kroger to bring in Fred Meyer to Four Corners while Valley Medical Center and MultiCare have plans to bring more health care services to Covington.

To watch both towns slowly evolve and grow has been interesting and at times entertaining, both from a personal and professional perspective.

This paper has changed as well. I often tell people it has been three different newspapers in five years.

We first began working with other Reporter newspaper staff members out of the King County Journal building in Kent. Prior to starting this paper, I was the sports and business writer for the Kent, Renton and Auburn Reporter newspapers, and so the four newspapers that covered South King County at the time under the KCJ Newspapers banner were all in one room in the office in Kent.

In late 2006 the company was sold to Sound Publishing. By then, the editor who had originally hired me then gave me the chance to start this paper had left, and I had already worked for three different publishers by that point.

We started as a twice a month publication. In January 2007 we went to twice a week. For the first 18 months we did cover stories and basically considered this paper a “news magazine.” I covered events, did schools stories and did in-depth features, and though I knew the people at both city halls they didn’t see me often at meetings.

By fall 2008, the decision was made to go to a weekly print format, and while we had some web presence it was small.

I must admit that a weekly publication format seemed to fit best.

We had always talked about covering Black Diamond more thoroughly at a later date, but it didn’t really happen until Dennis Box came on in February 2009.

It was at this point I feel like the Covington-Maple Valley Reporter was on the road to becoming what I always envisioned it could be from the first newspaper we put out in September 2005.

My goal had always been to put out a paper that had all the stories you wanted to read but couldn’t get anywhere else. Our suburban communities out on the edge of civilization seem to be largely ignored unless there’s some kind of horrible crime or tragic circumstance.

My philosophy about community journalism formed when I worked at a weekly newspaper covering a suburb of Las Vegas, the Henderson Home News, where I came to the conclusion that readers of such papers want to see stories about their friends, neighbors and children, local businesses and anything that had a direct impact on their wallets.

That philosophy continues to inform my approach to the way we do things at the Reporter.

We divide and conquer here, we work as a team, and we put out the best paper we possibly can every week. It is full of articles about and photos of people you know or might want to know, your kids, your elected officials, your athletes, all the people, places and events that you consider your own as a community.

My hope is that you see us at meetings, events, schools, games and much more. By now you know us both pretty well.

And as everyone knows, it seems, I’ve had some major changes in my personal life as well with the addition of my amazing little girl, Lyla, who was born Nov. 18, 2009. She has made me appreciate this job even more than I ever have.

After the different owners, the different editors, the different publishers, the different offices, all the things this paper has been through, I can tell you at five years old it is pretty close to where I want it to be but we can always do better.

I hope in five more years I can look back at the Covington-Maple Valley Reporter, wherever I am working, whatever I am doing in my life, and be proud of what I started here for this community where I live, work, shop, eat, play and now raise a family.

Happy fifth birthday, Covington-Maple Valley Reporter.