PORT ANGELES — Two candidates running unopposed in separate races in the Nov. 7 general election emphasized their experience as they spoke to the Port Angeles Business Association on Tuesday.
Incumbent Clallam County District 2 fire commissioner Dan Huff is running for Position No. 1 and Drew Schwab is running for Position 2 on the Port Angeles City Council. Neither is being challenged.
Schwab joked that with no opposition, he’d had little opportunity to practice his stump speech.
“I want to thank this organization for inviting me to come here, because I haven’t had a lot of invitations other than the civics teacher at the high school,” Schwab said.
In their remarks, both candidates emphasized their familiarity with the duties and responsibilities of the positions for which they are running.
Huff was born and raised in Port Angeles and graduated from the high school in 1973.
He began as a volunteer firefighter with District 2 in 1977 and rose to lieutenant, then station captain and most recently as volunteer assistant fire chief.
In November 2022, District 2 commissioners appointed Huff to the commissioner’s seat vacated that October by the retirement of Thomas Martin. Fire commissioners serve six-year terms.
Fire District 2 provides fire protection and emergency medical services to about 9,500 people over 85 square miles to the west and the east of the city of Port Angeles.
Huff said escalating call volumes have meant greater demands on staff, volunteers and apparatus: 900 calls per year in 2010, to 1,200 calls in 2012 and 1,300 calls in 2014.
“Our dilemma going forward is that we want to increase our coverage because we’re on track to now hit 2,000 calls a year,” Huff said.
District 2’s 60-year-old fire stations at Gales Addition and Dry Creek need to be upgraded and expanded to accommodate live-in firefighters, and its aging fire apparatus need to be replaced, Huff said, and a volunteer force is no longer sufficient to meet demand.
Schwab is running for the Position 2 seat currently held by Amy Miller, whom the Port Angeles City Council appointed in January 2023 when member Mike French was elected Clallam Country commissioner. Miller is vacating the position to run for the Position 5 seat against Jim Haguewood. Schwab would serve the remaining two years of what would have been Miller’s four-year term.
Schwab ran unsuccessfully for the Position 1 seat on the council 2011, when he was defeated by Brad Collins. He is vice chair of the city planning commission and serves on the public safety advisory board — experiences he said have made him attuned to how city government functions and knowledgeable about how to get things done.
“I’m kind of a realist and pragmatist,” said Scwhab, who moved to Port Angeles in 2003 and graduated from Peninsula College.
For example, Schwab said, there are actions the city can take to begin to tackle seemingly intractable issues like the lack of affordable housing such as implementing a faster permitting process, and rethinking zoning provisions and building code requirements. Upgrades in infrastructure, such as water and stormwater systems, also would make it easier for builders to build new homes.
“I prefer the carrot over the stick,” Schwab said. “I’d rather see incentives for people to do things instead of them being prevented from doing things.”
Schwab said he agreed with the city council’s moratorium on short-term rentals because the 2017 code changes were not very clear.
While he believes in code enforcement, Schwab said the city needs to take a step back to re-evaluate its short-term rental policy.
“If all of a sudden something that the city has not enforced is suddenly being enforced and it’s people’s livelihood. I have some issues with that,” Schwab said. “So, I think before we go back to heavily enforcing it, we need to first go back to the actual code and figure out whether or not any of this code is useful and productive.”
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Reporter Paula Hunt can be reached at paula.hunt@peninsuladailynews.com.
