At 9 a.m. Jan. 7, newly elected Jefferson County Commissioner Greg Brotherton began his first public business meeting, taking a seat behind the bench in the commissioners chambers.

The first order was 30 minutes of public comment, during which county citizens are invited to voice their concerns, thoughts, ideas and occasional diatribes for three minutes each as the commissioners listen.

“I was struck at how different it felt,” Brotherton said.

Leading up to his election in November, he had been an audience member, viewing the public comment process from the rows of chairs behind the podium.

“They were speaking to me as a representative of the county,” Brotherton said. “I take that responsibility seriously, but I didn’t expect the tangible difference in the listening.”

Despite the new feeling of responsibility, Brotherton responded to citizens with a bit of levity.

“This is your first meeting, do you feel prepared to take on the issues laid out before us?” asked chair Kate Dean as she welcomed Brotherton to the board.  

“I’m in a learning phase, so give me a week or two,” he joked.

With binders of reading materials stacked on his desk and bookshelves, Brotherton described his first few weeks as commissioner as “drinking from a fire hose.”

His approach for now is to learn as much as he can and bring a bit of lightness to the job.

“Phil Johnson, who passed away this week and was a commissioner for three terms, always brought a lightness to the role in my perception that I aspire to,” Brotherton said. “It’s not easy. It’s serious business that we’re doing here, but it doesn’t mean that you always have to be serious.”

Besides bringing levity, Brotherton also hopes to bring a fresh set of eyes to old issues.

“Looking at housing, I feel that we have impediments in place that I want to work to remove,” Brotherton said. “I want to look at this calendar year to find out where to focus our budget to remove some of those impediments.”

Coming up on the commissioners’ agenda is revisiting the critical areas ordinance, about which they will have to strike a balance between protecting the environment, protecting the rural character of the county and allowing for growth.

“I think that our growth management is out of balance, but I think that growth management is important,” Brotherton said at the Jan. 14 meeting in response to public concerns over the state Growth Management Act. “I really feel that that is my mandate as a new commissioner, and every board is a new board, even when you change one member.”

Brotherton will bring his perspective to several county committees, including the Solid Waste Advisory Committee, the Chimacum Prevention Coalition, the Marine Resources Committee and the OlyCAP board.

“One of the things I most appreciate about Greg is how creative he is,” said former commissioner Kathleen Kler, who felt Brotherton was the right person to replace her. “He just has a remarkably different mind to look at a situation.”

As a resident and business owner in Quilcene, Brotherton said he understands the needs of District 3 residents who have to travel farther for county services.

“I want to stay accessible to District 3 citizens,” Brotherton said. “I moved from the city to the country because I wanted to live in the country. I feel more at home in the country than I have anywhere else, so I feel like I understand a lot of the needs of our rural residents.”

In his new job, Brotherton is readjusting to a new balance of life and work. His wife, Stacy, has taken over his responsibilities at their businesses — the Quilcene Village Store, Sea Change Cannabis and Disco Bay Detour — and both he and Stacy are continuing to homeschool their daughter, Sage.

“Finding that balance is still something we’re working on,” Brotherton said. “My daughter joined me at the Youth Marijuana Prevention networking event today, and I want to include her in this discourse as much as I can. … She’s getting a lot of civics education.”

While reordering his life, Brotherton is jumping in head first to meeting with committees, reading the county’s comprehensive plan, and looking at the budget for the upcoming year, while also getting to know his constituents and listening to their concerns.

“I’m still learning,” he said. “Tell me when I do something wrong. I want to hear from the public. I fought for this job to serve the community, and that means everyone in the community. If you’ve got something to say, I’m here to listen.”