PORT ANGELES – Planning Commissioner and two-time prior candidate Cherie Kidd announced Friday she will run for Grant Munro’s position on the City Council.
Filing for Clallam County political offices runs from 8:30 a.m. Monday to 4:30 p.m. Friday.
Munro’s seat is one of three open this year on the seven-person board.
City Councilman Richard Headrick, who was appointed to the council in March 2006 to replace the late Jack Pittis, already has said he won’t run this year.
Online publisher Peter Ripley announced in May he would seek Headrick’s seat.
City Councilwoman Edna Petersen, who was appointed in July 2006 following Lauren Erickson’s resignation, has said she intends to run but has not made a formal announcement.
Kidd said she decided to run again because of spending policies that defer public safety in favor of the Port Angeles International Gateway Transportation Center, reconnecting the council with the voters and a need for collaboration in economic development.
When the council recommended the Gateway Center contractor and bid award to Clallam Transit in March, Munro said he voted for it “reluctantly,” Kidd said.
Funding the project’s $3.1 million shortfall could require the city to use some combination of $1.5 million in reserves, $1.2 million from the Tse-whit-zen settlement, $2 million in short-term financing and deferring $590,000 in other projects.
“He said he would reluctantly vote to put people in debt – that puts taxpayers in a very vulnerable position,” Kidd said.
“I would not have voted to divert funds from our city’s streets, sidewalks and public safety to fund the Gateway Center bus station project.
“Who’s watching the pocketbook of the taxpayers?” she asked.
“I will,” she said.
The City Council also must be reconnected to the voters it serves, Kidd said.
“I plan to promote open and responsive government that listens to and responds to the voters,” she said.
The council’s appointment of Richard Headrick to a vacant council seat in March 2006 – just months after he lost an election by 10 percentage points – was a clear disconnect with the voters, Kidd said.
“That appointment was a clear disconnect with the voters of Port Angeles. The members of the city council should be the guardians of our vote.
“I look forward to being the representative of the people and a liaison between our City Council and the people of Port Angeles,” she said.
Kidd said she would help develop a shared vision between the City Council and the business community for economic development.
“Economic development is the key to our future as a city and to our leadership on the North Olympic Peninsula,” she said.
Kidd is a Port Angeles native and a Port Angeles High School graduate.
She is the immediate past chair of the Port Angeles Planning Commission. She also is a member of the Noon Soroptomists, Kiwanis Club and Port Angeles Regional Chamber of Commerce.
Kidd is a board member of the Port Angeles Business Association, Salvation Army, Clallam County Historical Society, Port Angeles Underground Foundation and the Olympic Medical Center Foundation.
