SEQUIM — The City Council’s four freshest members made a statement when they recommended Sharon DelaBarre to represent Sequim on the Clallam County Opportunity Fund Board.
DelaBarre, a conference and dog-show organizer, brings “a fresh perspective,” said Councilman Ken Hays during Monday’s council meeting.
“She seems very innovative,” added Councilwoman Susan Lorenzen
Lorenzen, Hays and fellow newcomers Laura Dubois and Erik Erichsen passed over prominent real estate broker Mike McAleer, who has served on the Opportunity Fund board for many years.
The two other councilmen, real estate broker Paul McHugh and Action Property Management owner Walt Schubert, voted for McAleer.
Later Dubois and Lorenzen sought to explain their decision and dispel what Dubois called a “public perception” that people in Sequim’s real estate industry have too much influence on city government.
“We’ve never said anything against Realtors,” Dubois began.
But while campaigning last fall, “I knocked on more than 800 doors . . . and at least 25 percent of the people asked, ‘Are you a Realtor?’
“And when I said no, they said, ‘Great.'”
Lorenzen added that voters told her that several city officials were connected to the real estate industry, and “it seemed unbalanced.”
