PORT ANGELES — The economy and water use were among issues discussed by the five candidates for Clallam County commissioner during a Port Angeles Business Association breakfast meeting Tuesday.
Incumbent Mike Chapman, a political independent from Port Angeles, is running against Democratic challengers Dale Holiday and Patti Morris, Republican Maggie Roth and independent Sandra Long to represent District 2, the central third of the county.
Ballots will be mailed to voters July 18 for the Aug. 7 primary.
The top-two vote-getters, regardless of party affiliation, will advance to the Nov. 6 general election.
PABA members asked the candidates several questions, the first of which regarded the candidates’ stance on using marketing to bring more business to the county.
Incentive for business
“Our county is going to have to give something to make it an incentive for people to bring their businesses here,” Roth said, “either a tax reduction [or] building some kind of a structure of some sort.”
Roth cited the area’s shipping facilities and airport as assets for attracting business.
“If you don’t market yourself, you don’t get the business,” she said.
Morris said the county should take a leadership role in determining community priorities and then take steps to realize those focused goals.
She said legislators told her they want to hear “one voice” rather than hearing what the varied priorities of the city, port and county are.
“You will see that businesses will be attracted here, people will be attracted here, if they understand what we are offering and what they have to gain from it,” Morris said.
“And I don’t think we are at that point now because if you called and spoke to various entities in this county, you would get a different message about what we have to offer.”
Incumbent Chapman said the county shouldn’t market itself but rather should improve infrastructure.
“Local government doesn’t spend your tax dollars to run around at trade shows,” he said.
“What local government does is get things done for you on the ground so then the private sector can make their investment decisions and this economy can continue to grow and expand,” Chapman said.
“I will not support your dollars to put someone on a plane to fly into a Paris trade show,” he said.
“That would be a ridiculous use of your local tax dollars.”
The Port of Port Angeles and the cities of Port Angeles and Sequim all contributed to the costs of a booth at the JEC Europe Composites Show in Paris in early April.
Holiday agreed with Chapman that county commissioners should not be involved in marketing.
Instead, Holiday said she favored looking at other communities for new ideas.
“One problem we’ve had here in Clallam County is we just kind of look toward ourselves for information,” Holiday said.
“That’s why I look at case studies from Oregon, who’s had troubles like ours: moving from a local timber economy into . . . what? That’s the big question in a lot of our northwest cities.”
Long said it’s the county’s job to set up infrastructure that will then attract businesses.
She also wants to see more marketing.
“We’ve got to sell what we have,” she added, saying the county should attract visitors every weekend, not just during festivals.
“We’ve got to sell Clallam County to people who will come and spend their money here and leave it here,” Long added.
Water-use issues also were raised at the meeting.
“Water is the next oil,” said Holiday, who said water often is taken for granted.
Holiday said drilling deeper wells was not a solution and noted that when she worked with water issues in New England, saline intrusion into groundwater was a problem.
Roth said building water reservoirs would be a good way to deal with water.
“Water rights are property rights,” Roth said.
Morris, who moved here from Arizona in 2001, said water storage was common in that state.
Water storage
She said it would be worth looking at storing water and that the costs of such projects also should be evaluated carefully.
Long said county residents are “very lucky” to have an abundance of clean water and that commissioners should work carefully with the state Department of Ecology to help them understand local water issues.
Chapman said he and others asked Ecology several questions about water use but that he has not received answers to all of his questions.
“We will find a solution that works for our community so we can meet the needs of the tribe, meet the needs of the PUD and meet the needs of the community,” he said.
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Staff Writer/Photographer Chris Tucker can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5056, or at chris.tucker@peninsuladailynews.com.
