Can’t take it anymore?
A chance to make a difference has arrived for North Olympic Peninsula residents who have complained about this school board or that city council.
It may be time to step up to the plate.
Candidate filing week begins Monday for the Nov. 8 general election, and 98 elective positions from county commissioner to the water district board are up for grabs in Clallam and Jefferson counties — 50 of those in Clallam County, 48 in Jefferson
The filing period is 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday at the Clallam County Courthouse in Port Angeles and the Jefferson County Courthouse in Port Townsend.
Filing week offers a chance for citizens to “get involved,” Clallam County Auditor Patty Rosand said.
“If they have been wanting to get involved in their local government, they only have every other year to file for an elected seat,” she said.
Ballots will be mailed to voters in both counties July 27.
If more than three candidates file for a position, they will square off in the Aug. 16 primary.
The top two vote-getters will advance to the Nov. 8 general election.
If only two candidates file for a position, they automatically move on to the general election.
Clallam County
Candidate interest in filing has been quiet in Clallam, where majorities on the Port Angeles, Sequim and Forks city councils are up for a vote.
“It’s pretty unusual that it is this quiet with this many seats open,” Rosand said.
“Either they are satisfied with the government they have, or they don’t want to get involved; I don’t know.”
Four positions — the majority of seats — also are up for election on the Port Angeles and Sequim city councils, while three of five positions, not counting the mayor, are up for election on the Forks City Council.
This is an odd-year election, dominated by local races, compared with even-year elections, weighted toward elections for state legislative districts, statewide and congressional offices, and presidential races.
The top two vote-getters in the primary will advance to the general election regardless of party affiliation.
In a countywide race, Republican Jim McEntire, 60, of Sequim and Democrat Linda Barnfather, 48, also of Sequim have announced their intention to run for the Clallam County commissioner Sequim District 1 position being vacated by Clallam County Commissioner Steve Tharinger.
Tharinger just finished his first legislative session as a 24th District state representative for Clallam and Jefferson counties and part of Grays Harbor County.
McEntire is a Port of Port Angeles commissioner.
Barnfather is the legislative assistant to 24th District state Rep. Kevin Van De Wege.
The other countywide seat up for election is George Schoenfeldt’s six-year District 2 Port of Port Angeles position.
Schoenfeldt has not publicly stated his electoral intentions.
Primary elections for the port and county commissioner positions are districtwide, while the general election for these positions is countywide.
Three positions each also are up for grabs on the five-person school boards that set policy and pass budgets of the Port Angeles, Sequim, Crescent, Cape Flattery and Quillayute school districts.
Fire districts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 also have open positions, as do the Black Diamond and Sunland water districts and Forks Hospital District 1 and Port Angeles-based Hospital District 2.
Most positions in both counties are for four-year terms.
The list of open positions in Clallam County and information for potential candidates is at http://tinyurl.com/25omebk.
Jefferson County
In Jefferson County, interest is high in the Port of Port Townsend position being vacated by John Collins, who is not running for re-election, Jefferson County Deputy Auditor Karen Cartmel said.
Collins represents the city of Port Townsend and the North Jacob area west of the city.
So far, former Coast Guard Auxiliary operations officer and longtime boater Steve Tucker, 61, of Port Townsend is the only announced candidate for incumbent Port of Port Townsend Commissioner Collins’ Port Townsend District 1 position.
A port primary would cover only District 1, while the general election is countywide.
Judging by inquiries to her office, including Tucker’s, Cartmel said she expects at least three candidates to file for the port position.
The other two potential port candidates did not identify themselves, she said.
As a rule, potential candidates “don’t like to give you their name when they call,” Cartmel added.
“They don’t want it out there. They think we will call the media and blab, which we don’t.”
Interest also has been high in the school board positions in districts throughout the county, Cartmel said.
School board members live in the director district they are filing for.
If more than three people file for a school board position, the vote is districtwide.
“We’ve had more inquiries for candidates filing this year than we have had in past odd-year elections,” Cartmel said.
“I don’t recall people coming in two weeks prior to filing wanting to look at [school director district] maps like they have this year,” she said.
Three of five Port Townsend School Board seats are up for election, Cartmel said.
Three seats are also up for election on the five-person school board of the Queet-Clearwater district, and four seats are up on the five-position Brinnon School Board, one of which is a two-year unexpired term of Valerie Schindler.
Three positions out of five also are up for election in the Quillayute Valley and Sequim school districts, which have boundaries that include small portions of Clallam County.
Two of five positions are up for election in the Chimacum School District.
Also up for election are four of seven Port Townsend City Council positions.
Port Townsend City Councilman David Kind has said he will run for re-election, while two-term incumbent Laurie Medlicott, 66, said she won’t.
“I’m really looking forward to exploring some other volunteer options because there never was enough time to do that and to do my council study also,” Medlicott said Friday.
“If I ran again and served again, I’m afraid it would be difficult to keep my perspective,” she added.
“I would feel like I owned the position, and it would be difficult to represent constituents’ viewpoints and not just my own, which is a nice way to say there should be term limits.”
Port Townsend attorney Paul Richmond, 50, who lost a 2010 bid for county prosecuting attorney, told the Peninsula Daily News on May 26 that he “probably” will run for Medlicott’s seat.
Also on the ballot for all Jefferson County voters outside the city of Port Townsend is a 20-year, $8.4 million capital-construction bond measure for the county Rural Library District.
This is an odd-year election, dominated by local races, compared with even-year elections, weighted toward elections for state legislative districts, statewide and congressional offices, and presidential races.
Positions also are open on Chimacum-Cape George Fire District 3, Quilcene Fire District 2, Clallam-Jefferson Fire Protection District, Port Ludlow Fire District 3, Brinnon Fire District 4, Gardiner Fire District 5 and Queets Fire District 7.
Positions also are open on cemetery districts in Brinnon, Quilcene and Gardiner; water districts in Paradise Bay, Brinnon and Coyle; and East Jefferson Hospital District 2, which includes all county voters except that small part of Forks Hospital District 2 that is in Jefferson County.
Most positions in Jefferson County are for four-year terms.
The list of open positions and information for potential Jefferson County candidates is at http://tinyurl.com/3c29t7k.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-417-3536 or at paul.gottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
