French, Seegers engage in forum

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, July 15, 2026

PORT ANGELES — The two candidates for the District 3 seat on the Clallam County board of commissioners made their positions known on several issues during a forum.

Incumbent Democrat Mike French is finishing his first term as a county commissioner. Independent Jake Seegers is challenging French for the seat.

The two answered questions from Port Angeles Business Association members during the group’s weekly breakfast meeting Tuesday at Jazzy Joshua’s.

One question asked whether the candidates, to balance the county’s budget, would forego giving employees raises or if they would cut services.

“We went through this exact question a few years ago and what we came up with was the 7 percent cut: We asked department heads what their departments would like with a 7 percent cut,” French said.

Those cuts included a few full-time positions, a reduction in supplies and also finding new revenue sources, he added.

French noted that many county employees are part of collective bargaining agreements so not giving raises often is not an option.

Seegers said the county needs to look at how it’s spending taxpayer money. He said taxes have increased while the county is receiving more in grants.

On the state Department of Natural Resources reducing timber harvests, Seegers said the timber industry in Clallam County is under attack and that activists are working to further reduce the revenue the county receives from timber harvests.

DNR is working to meet the goals of the habitat restoration plan, which includes retaining a viable timber industry, French said. The habitat restoration goals need to be balanced with industry retention, he added.

When it comes to housing, the county needs to work with other organizations to produce units across the income spectrum, French said.

“We need to keep making investments in affordable housing,” he said.

The county needs to fight back against state mandates that are making housing less affordable, Seegers said.

“We definitely always need to think what we can do at the local level,” he said. “We need to push back against regulations.”

One problem with housing is that permitting fees at the county level have increased. Those need to go back down, Seegers said.

For the West End, where the timber industry has decreased and tourism has increased, Seegers said he would promote revising the state Growth Management Act to make industry easier.

“The first thing we need to do is restore public safety in Clallam County,” he said. “We need to protect the businesses that are here and promote them.”

The economic shift in the West End was studied while the county was applying to become part of the Recompete program, French said. Government welfare in that area is seasonal, with people needing more assistance in the winter when tourism is down and less in the summer when tourism is up, he added.

Through Recompete, the county has invested in the city of Forks so its industrial complex will have active companies in it again, he said.

When tax increases came up, French mentioned the Port Angeles City Council’s recently passed one-tenth of 1 percent public safety sales tax and said that will have a huge impact on public safety. He said it’s investment he would support making at the county level.

Seegers said he would only support a new sales tax if a different sales tax, such as the one for juvenile justice services, comes to an end. The two argued on whether the county spending money on juvenile justice services was worth the amount of money the county puts into it.

Another issue the pair touched on was that of the proposed Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe Land Transfer Act of 2026, which would transfer the Dungeness Spit and Protection Island wildlife refuges into trust lands for the tribe.

The Jamestown S’Klallam tribe, unlike the Makah or the Lower Elwha Klallam tribes, does not have a reservation, French said, noting that he supports tribal sovereignty and the promises made in tribal treaties. Ultimately, the land transfer would be a federal decision and it’s difficult to comment on federal legislation without seeing it first, French said.

Seegers said the county needs to use its voice to let legislators know what the county and its constituents think of the land transfer. He stated the tribe, along with everyone else in the county, already owns the land.

“We are all partners with that land,” Seegers said.

When it comes to the county working with state and federal regulations, French said he has experience with cutting regulations from his time as a Port Angeles City Council member, working to make building housing more affordable.

“County commissioners need to be very vocal on regulations facing our county,” Seegers said. “We need to be very creative in how we can mitigate them. We always need to be looking at what we can do at the county level.”

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Reporter Emily Hanson can be reached by email at emily.hanson@peninsuladailynews.com.