What initially inspired you to run for your position, and what keeps you motivated to serve in your role?

Well, it started with me living in District 3 and having a healthy ego. I was flattered when someone I respected thought that I would be a good fit, and I enjoyed public service. Win, win, win, I thought. And it’s turned out that way. My ego is well assuaged (though oft bruised), I think this position has been a good fit for me, and I think I have and do help the county. And I still enjoy public service.

While I have my heart set in administration and implementation for the next phase of my career, I look at the downhill leg of my second and last term as County Commissioner with a bittersweet note. It is a job you live 24/7, 365. That can feel really good and also really tiring. As to what motivates me, I think we are at a crossroads of placemaking and need to focus on careful density. County planning sets the table for growth. I think we can make places for families and workforce, and make places for the kind of light industrial jobs that reflect Jefferson County at its most creative and productive. YIMBY energy keeps me going.

What do you see as a strength of the Jefferson County community?

I think one of the biggest strengths of the people in Jefferson County is our passion for community. When people gather in real life to get something done, their lives are better and our lives are better. It is so easy to gather artificial communities virtually, and the voluntary connection with people in pursuit of something tangible makes life precious, whether it’s a rock club, rock band, or rocky political party.

Placemaking is something we need to do well in the Tri-Area. Intentional paths sometimes have unintended consequences, so horizontal and vertical conversations about the Port Hadlock UGA should be happening at those community group level and on the county scale. Grass roots should touch the grass tops as we make our new urban area a reflection of our community.

What is the county’s most significant challenge, and how do you plan to help address it?

I fear we will lose the integrity of our community if we don’t start to approach housing as a human right, make space for multi-family housing next to single-family housing and find a way to make denser development a norm in Jefferson County. I see Jefferson County’s role as establishing the baseline for our social fabric. The inequities are spreading to the point that our social fabric – here and elsewhere – is starting to tear. We are living in a new gilded age.

As to how I can help address it, there aren’t any easy answers. We’ll continue to work with the tools we have to build and maintain the services we provide in as equitable way as we can. Those tools aren’t enough. We’ll need to build larger public and private coalitions to really effect change.

What is your favorite way to spend a weekend in Jefferson County?

A perfect weekend is one where my shadow rarely darkens the driveway. My family is home, enjoying the work on our little hobby homestead and each other before a swim in Lake Leland and a meal together. A solitary hike, followed by friends and an early night would round out that weekend. This was one of those weekends, so I include a picture of my weekly summit of Mt. Walker.

I’d have to include the five or so hours I budget to read and digest the packet. The packet is the body of our work for our Monday meetings and in many ways reflects the work of the county. Sometimes it takes far more time. But for a perfect weekend, I’d hope for a shorter one – with the processes all working smoothly.

How do you describe Jefferson County to out-of-towners?

The middle part of your drive to get to the Olympic National Park. We’re the second oldest county in the country after the county in Florida with the Villages, which is a senior living community. Our AMI is around $70,000 and our average house price is over $600,000. Our rental vacancy rate is less than 1%. It used to be that we were all here because we weren’t all there. Now you have to be all there, with significant capital established, to have the capacity to come here.