PORT ANGELES — Former Port Angeles community development director Brad Collins was selected unanimously by the City Council Wednesday evening to be its seventh member.
Collins, who will fill the seat vacated by Larry Little, lost by 22 votes in his bid to unseat Port of Port Angeles commission President John Calhoun in the November general election.
Council members cited Collins’ knowledge of issues facing Port Angeles because of his tenure as city planning director in 1989-2005 and his recent election campaign as reasons for selecting him.
“Right now, we are looking for someone who has the most to offer, and to me it seems like Brad Collins is a little more current on all [the issues] and he seems to have current up-to-date knowledge,” said council member Cherie Kidd.
Collins, who is the development director for Serenity House of Clallam County and member of the Port Angeles Fine Arts Center and Clallam County Historical Society boards, was chosen about 30 minutes after the council interviewed him and five other candidates for the position.
Seven people had applied for the post, but one withdrew his application Wednesday.
Rick Burton, an employee of Nippon Paper Industries USA Co., in Port Angeles — who lost his bid for the Port Angeles City Council in the August primary — could not be reached for comment Wednesday about why he withdrew.
Little was elected to his first term in November but resigned Dec. 31. He cited his wife’s cancer and chemotherapy treatments for the reason for his departure, two days after taking his oath of office.
Collins was one of three finalists considered by the City Council after about three hours of interviews.
Glenn Wiggins, a former mayor and former City Council member, and city Planning Commissioner John Matthews were both in the top three. Matthews, who originally had been expected to be out of town, had managed to be present for the interview.
The council also interviewed former Clallam County Family YMCA executive director Dan Maguire; Thomas Davis, a blues musician who served as an Indian Council chairman while he was in El Dorado County, Calif.; and Sheryle Outcalt, registered nurse and former Port Angeles Senior Center board member.
Council member Max Mania said Collins would, more than any of the six candidates interviewed, have the “pulse of the community” since he had run a recent election campaign.
Council member Pat Downie said Collins’ experience on the “other side of the counter,” referring to his days as community development director, also would be good for the council. Downie felt that Collins would be able to see multiple sides of an issue.
Collins will serve a two-year term. The position will be up for grabs in the November 2011 general election.
A date was not set Wednesday on when he will be sworn-in.
As the seventh member, Collins will provide the tie-breaking vote in deciding whether council member Don Perry or Kidd will be deputy mayor.
Collins campaigned in the port race against the creation of the Port Angeles Harbor-Works Development Authority but didn’t criticize its formation during his interview Wednesday night.
The city, with support from the port, created Harbor-Works in 2008 to acquire Rayonier Inc.’s former pulp mill site, assist in its environmental cleanup and direct its redevelopment. The city also created the public development authority to acquire a 5-million-gallon tank on the 75-acre site to temporarily store untreated sewage that would otherwise spill into Port Angeles Harbor.
In his port campaign, Collins said the port should use the $650,000 it has loaned Harbor-Works on creating jobs sooner rather than several years in the future from redevelopment of the Rayonier site.
Collins and the other five candidates weren’t asked specifically about Harbor-Works, but were asked what they think of the plan to use the tank.
“I believe that you can resolve the Rayonier development issues and still make short-term decisions on the tank for [eliminating overflows],” he said when asked about it.
Collins hit the mark with the other six council members when he told them he would be “aggressive” with the state Department of Ecology in terms of getting state help with resolving the sewer overflow problem.
Ecology is requiring the city to allow no more than four overflow events, which are caused during heavy rainfall, per year by Dec. 31, 2015 or be fined $10,000 a day.
“I think he’s on target with that,” said Downie in regard to Collins’ comment.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
