PORT ANGELES — City Council candidates Michael Merideth and Marolee Smith displayed few policy differences at a general election campaign forum Tuesday, lining up together on cutting down obstructive trees at city-owned Lincoln Park and fluoridation of city water.
Both said park trees should be cut back to unblock runway access to the Port of Port Angeles’ nearby William R. Fairchild International Airport, an option that has drawn opposition at council meetings.
Meredith and Smith said they also oppose fluoridation of city water.
City water users can participate in a Nov. 6 survey that the council will review to determine if water should be fluoridated beyond May 16, when a 10-year fluoridation commitment expires with the Washington Dental Service Foundation.
Merideth and Smith, neither of whom have run for public office before, are vying Nov. 3 for the four-year Position 5 seat held by Dan Di Guilio, who is not running for re-election and also is the council-chosen mayor.
The general election ballots will be mailed to voters Oct. 14.
Little difference
“I don’t think there’s a lot of difference between Mike and me,” Smith said at the end of the breakfast-meeting political get-together, sponsored by the Port Angeles Business Association and attended by about two dozen participants.
“I’d vote for you,” Smith said, turning to Merideth as the two sat at a table in front of the dining room at Joshua’s Restaurant & Lounge.
“What am I doing running?” she quipped.
Smith, 60 by Nov. 3 and a 20-year Clallam County resident, was raised in Reno, Nev., and Northern California.
She is a published author, freelance writer and researcher who has worked in public relations and owned two downtown businesses: Spicer’s Delicatessen and Grocery and the Port Angeles Community Market.
Calling the existing council “complacent” during her opening remarks, Smith said council members seem to approve everything that city staff puts before them.
“That’s not the balance we need,” she said.
Smith also criticized the impact that construction of The Gateway transit center had on downtown businesses and utility rates she said were too high.
“We need to turn the ship around,” Smith said.
Merideth, 42 by Nov. 3, is a 40-year county resident, Port Angeles High School graduate and log-truck driver for Bruch & Bruch Construction Inc.
Develop Lincoln Park
Merideth said money spent studying what to do about the Lincoln Park trees should be spent to develop the park, adding that he is unfamiliar with Federal Aviation Administration rules.
He said Lincoln Park in its present condition is home to “vagrants, drug use and teenage sex.”
Smith has never found Lincoln Park to be “welcoming,” she said.
“I like [Merideth’s] answer. I’ll go with him.”
Merideth said his pursuit of the council position is based on his desire to have more diversity on the panel.
“We have to pay the bills, but in the middle of paying those bills, we also have to keep up on improving our infrastructure,” he added.
“Those things cost money.”
Fluoridation
Smith said the city violated the public trust by not previously allowing a public vote on fluoridation, calling it “shocking.”
“There’s something behind this, and I’d love to know the answer,” she said.
Merideth called fluoridation an “ethics question” and said fluoride is readily available if residents want to use it without fluoridating city water.
“It’s not the same as vaccination,” he said.
Someone who does not drink fluoridated water is not going to “infect your neighbor,” Merideth added.
County sales tax cut
He also criticized county commissioners for lowering the sales tax rate earlier this year from 8.4 percent to 8.2 percent, suggesting it was politically motivated.
“I currently look at lowering that tax rate as a come-on to vote for me,” he said.
Merideth said the city’s and county’s rate should be the same. (The city is at 8.4 percent.)
Smith was perplexed by the commissioners’ sales tax reduction.
“I couldn’t quite understand what the point of it was,” she said.
Asked about cleanup of Port Angeles Harbor, Smith noted the city will be in debt for 19 more years.
“We already have people who can’t pay their power bill,” she said.
Surcharges on the city utility bill — which includes electricity, water, sewer and garbage collection — go toward funding city environmental projects.
Merideth said the city has no choice but to help clean up the harbor along with other partners.
“Citizens don’t want to see this [dragged] on for years and years,” he said.
________
Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
