As the Jefferson County Public Utility District was celebrating its five years of providing electrical power April 6 at its operations center, PUD commissioner candidate Dan Toepper was among the members of the public who stopped by for a hot dog and a soda.

Toepper, a lifelong area native, is running for the seat of incumbent PUD District 3 Commissioner Wayne King. Although it is Toepper’s first time running for a seat on the PUD Board of Commissioners, he ran against Jefferson County Commissioner Kathleen Kler in 2014, and submitted his name as a freeholder for a proposed charter-type government in 2013.

During the past four years, Toepper has attended PUD workshops, public hearings, and meetings of the board of commissioners and citizen advisory board. He also served on the CAB for two years.

“I try to absorb as much information as I can, because everything in this county intersects and overlaps and is tied together in more than one way,” said Toepper, who had been weighing whether to run for King’s seat or to take a second shot at Kler’s seat.

Toepper worked 22 years as a heavy-equipment operator before retiring in 2012. He then returned to full-time employment as an operator in 2016, due to a shortage of experienced operators in the region.

He credited his background with lending him insight into the PUD’s operations; he has worked on the Olympic Peninsula and throughout the Puget Sound region on projects such as shoreline cleanup, habitat restoration, and installation of water, power, sewer and storm-drain infrastructure.

Toepper has followed the progress of the PUD since its inception, and acknowledged how certain issues that might seem to fall under its purview, such as sewer systems in Port Hadlock, instead require county input.

“It can get confusing,” Toepper said. “That’s why the PUD needs to focus on outreach to the community, so its customers are ahead of the curve, and not only know how we got where we are now, but also what the future holds.”

If a person were to speak with Toepper about his goals, should he be elected, he is likely to repeat the phrase, “Give power back to the people.” That expression refers not just to the utility’s electrical power, but to knowledge of its inner workings.

“I know the previous commissioners,” Toepper said. “I have good relationships with the PUD’s staff. I understand why there have been lapses in communication with the public. This started out as a small utility, and I don’t think anyone was prepared for everything taking it over would entail, from billing and service to reading meters. They were treading water for so long, they couldn’t worry about developing communication plans.”

Toepper sees the current PUD as stable enough to evaluate its own internal policies and procedures, a sentiment similar to that expressed by incoming PUD General Manager Larry Dunbar.

Toepper recommended that any further consideration of smart meters start with such an appraisal, recalling how his own stint on the CAB coincided with debates on the meters, under former PUD General Manager Jim Parker.

“The move toward smart meters began before I came onto the CAB, so one of the questions I always had was, how did we get to this point?” Toepper said. “Any consideration of smart meters should have started with a cost/benefit analysis, which I still haven’t seen. Between the valid concerns expressed by the public and the contradictory data I’ve seen on these meters, I have no problem with sticking with our current models.”

As for the rest of the PUD’s agenda, Toepper sees the need to define goals both short-term (within four years) and long-term (within 10 years) to help maintain low rates and what he sees as a “high quality of service and reliability.”

Toepper expects the price and availability of water and energy to fluctuate due to economic markets, climate change and urban growth, and advocates the PUD to be “proactive” in identifying those trends “accurately and honestly.”

As for Toepper’s two-step approach of internal reforms and enhanced outreach, not only does he believe the PUD must clarify what capital improvements it needs, it also must do a better job of explaining them to the public.

“It’s clear we have to earn back the public’s trust,” Toepper said. “My goal is to help the PUD to be more accountable to its customers, improve the reliability and affordability of service, and ensure it remains approachable and transparent to the community it serves.”

The other announced candidate for the seat is Tom Brotherton, a former Boeing engineer, former Kent City Council member and recently arrived Quilcene resident. King has yet to announce his intentions to file for the seat.