Commissioner candidates debate economic development

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The Honesty Forum at Port Ludlow kicked off June 24 with all four candidates — three Democrats and one Republican — to fill the seat of outgoing Jefferson County District 3 Commissioner Kathleen Kler.

When asked how they saw the role of county commissioner, Democrat Ryan Mc Allister was the first to suggest that commissioners should spend more time in their districts, especially since District 3 is in the southern end of the county, well removed from the commissioners' offices at the county courthouse in Port Townsend.

Fellow Democrat Greg Brotherton summed up the role with the word “accountability,” recalling county commissioners' meetings he's attended where “conversations got a little tense” because the county officials involved were so concerned with getting details of the budget right.

“As a small businessman, there have been months where I haven't drawn a salary,” Brotherton said, touting his ability to work within such constraints, before he cited his tenure of the Quilcene School Board as an example of a similar working relationship.

Republican Jon Cooke agreed that County Administrator Philip Morley “knows his job,” but concurred with McAllister that county commissioners should be “out talking to people” in their own districts,” and added that their votes should reflect those conversations, which would mean “you can't vote the same way as the other two commissioners all the time.”

Craig Durgan, the remaining Democrat, pointed out that the board of commissioners' powers are limited by their status as a legislative governing body, which means they can set budgets and certain rules for other county departments, but otherwise, those departments are accountable to their own heads, especially if those heads are elected, such as the county sheriff.

“We're not monarchs,” Durgan said.

When the Brinnon Master Planned Resort came up, the candidates wound up split three-to-one on the issue, but not along political party lines.

Durgan argued the need to create jobs and build a tax base in the area, and defended the existing commissioners' approval of the MPR by noting it had been in the approval process for at least a decade, allowing for “plenty of public participation.”

Cooke concurred, presented the MPR as an alternative to the current state of “buildings with no electricity” and “decaying roads,” as well as the 90 percent of Brinnon school children who are eligible for free and reduced-price lunch, a level of poverty he deemed “ridiculous.”

For Brotherton, his approval was matter-of-fact — “They met the conditions that were laid out” — and based on his observations of the developers' “good faith,” by how well they'd already improved the Pleasant Harbor Marina.

Mc Allister, a resident of the Brinnon area, was the lone voice of dissent warning that a hotel and golf course resort would upend the existing rural character of the area, causing traffic jams on its two-lane highway, without providing year-round livable wages in return.

“We need more campgrounds, because those are packed every season,” Mc Allister said.

When asked how they would deal with the effects of the county's population aging, all four candidates agreed on the need to foster more living-wage jobs and affordable housing.

Brotherton advocated removing impediments to tiny houses and composting toilets, as well as whatever could be done to promote rural Internet access, while Mc Allister noted that even his own small business pays an hourly wage of at least $15, to keep pace with Seattle's minimum wage.

Durgan countered Brotherton's suggestions by asserting that larger housing developments need to be made possible, in order to foster stronger commercial growth, and to his mind, this means building a sewer system in Port Hadlock, along with apartments where young people can afford to live.

“It's only a matter of time before the EPA shuts down the existing septic systems in Hadlock for overflow,” Durgan said. “If we can grow our tax base, our property taxes won't have to go up.”

While Cooke was short on specifics, he warned that the county needs to train more young people for job fields that will allow them to return to their hometowns.

One attendee asked what the county could do about plans by Pope Resources' Olympic Resources Management, to clear-cut 234 acres of timber from Tala Point, which were presented to the Tala Point Owners Association June 21.

Cooke said he'd need to look at the specific stipulations for the area, to determine what exactly would be legal, “since they can't just do it,” while Brotherton pledged to try and help the residents of Port Ludlow retain their buffer, possibly by steering Pope toward “more sustainable harvesting practices.”

Mc Allister highlighted his experience in union negotiations, as an organizer for United Food Commercial Workers Local 21, to bargain with Pope, also with the aim of maintaining a buffer, “because you all live here for a reason.”

Durgan offered a more measured response, noting that, if Pope's plans are permitted by existing regulations, “it's a little late to pass regulations prohibiting them,” since he doesn't want to discourage growth in the county.