Anacortes Chamber of Commerce Director Stephanie Hamilton characterized Mayor Dean Maxwell as a “rock star” at Thursday’s Chamber luncheon. “He’s like the Ted Nugent of Anacortes,” said Hamilton, who noted that the mayor always attracts a capacity crowd. Maxwell’s annual “state of the city” report acknowledged on several occasions the difficulties of operating a municipal government in a lousy economy. Among those he lauded, however, were dedicated city staffers, council members … and citizen volunteers who save the city a great deal of money. The mayor referenced a Sister Cities trip to Russia, where he was again reminded: “I live in the best small community in America.” Full remarks from the mayor’s speech are posted at cityofanacortes.org