EDITOR’S NOTE: This report deals only with the Position 1 race between William Armacost and Kathy Downer. Both have been serving on the Sequim City Council, but Downer is running against Armacost rather than for re-election to her present seat. Future stories will cover other races presented at the forum.
SEQUIM — Climate, housing, social services and track records were the main topics in a forum of Sequim City Council candidates.
The League of Women Voters of Clallam County hosted six candidates via Zoom on Oct. 3 with more than 40 participants viewing the online forum.
View it at youtube.com/@leagueofwomenvotersclallam279.
Vying for city council Position 1 are incumbent William Armacost and Kathy Downer (Downer is now in Position 2); Jim Black and Dan Butler for Position 2; and, Patrick Day and Harmony Rutter for Position 6. Incumbent mayor Tom Ferrell is running unopposed for Position 7 and did not participate in the forum.
Ballots will be mailed Wednesday for the General Election slated for Tuesday Nov. 7. Find more information at clallamcountywa.gov/elections.
Armacost, Downer
Downer, a retired nurse, opened by discussing Armacost’s alleged connection to the QAnon conspiracy theory that he appeared to endorse in August 2020 on KSQM Radio’s “Coffee with the Mayor” program.
“Even though these seats are nonpartisan, I really feel like we should not let someone who has QAnon ideologies run unopposed,” she said.
“Mr. Armacost was appointed to council and then he ran unopposed. Now Sequim has a choice in the matter.”
He and Sequim received national media attention for his comments, “QAnon is a truth movement,” but he told a CNN reporter in January 2021 that he didn’t endorse or say he was a QAnon supporter.
Armacost, a salon owner, did not address the issue.
Downer also said that the city council is “elected to make evidence based decisions about our budget, city contract and what the citizens say they need” with this including jobs, housing and faster broadband.
“We need to be more open minded about social justice and not demonize homeless people,” she said. “Affordable housing and homeless sheltering are two separate issues with two separate solutions.”
Armacost told of his time in Sequim as a family man, business owner, and as mayor during the Covid-19 pandemic.
He said the council voted to create Rapid Relief business grants to provide $500,000 to help keep businesses afloat, freeze utility rates for two years, and remove restrictions for low income seniors’ utility discounts.
“After the past four years, our city is in a better place than ever,” he said.
Armacost said that the hiring of city manager Matt Huish was “a game changer” as he implemented fact sheets for residents and updated city systems for better efficiency.
Downer, who was elected in 2021 to Position 2, ran with a majority of the now-current city council members with one of their issues being their opposition to the firing of former city manager Charlie Bush; his firing led to the hiring of Huish. This was not mentioned in the forum.
Housing issues
Downer said she’s spearheaded the effort on affordable housing for the city council. During her tenure zoning for accessory dwelling units has changed, she said.
Downer asked fellow council members to declare the city’s lack of affordable housing an emergency, and for them to reduce park impact fees by 50 percent for affordable housing developers.
She said Armacost voted against drafting a declaration and fee reduction, which he did on Sept. 11 saying he felt it was redundant to other city efforts and was unsure it’d move development forward. He and other council members later unanimously approved the final draft of a declaration that states “workforce housing in the city has become an urgent situation.”
Armacost also appeared at the Sept. 11 meeting to favor giving Habitat for Humanity a pledge for a new Sequim project instead of reducing fees.
He said at the forum the council has agreed to allow multi-family developments in more areas in the city, and if the city is not able to obtain a Connecting Housing to Infrastructure Program (CHIP) grant to be repaid for general facility charges for low income housing, he’d consider a pledge to Habitat.
Vocational education
Both Armacost and Downer voted in January to earmark $250,000 in city funds or in-kind services to the Sequim School District for a Career and Technical Education (CTE) building at Sequim High School, in hopes of seeking more state funding. However, the project didn’t receive the necessary funding and was put on hold.
Downer said she had mixed feelings about the project as the school district has its own monies to potentially pull from with levies and bonds. She said if the district sought funds again, she’d consider a pledge and job training for students with city staff.
Armacost said there’s a real need for people learning technical skills alongside those earning college degrees. He added that city staff and Huish have organized meetings with developers/contractors on how to expedite their efforts to build housing.
Climate risks
Asked about what climate change risks the Olympic Peninsula faces, Armacost said residents have been good stewards of the Olympic National Park.
“We are very conscious of moving forward, of trying to leave it in a better condition than when we found it,” he said.
He noted previous council members agreed to put solar panels on the Sequim Civic Center, and the Clallam Transit board is seeking greener options, such as hydrogen-fueled buses due to limitations of electric bus routes in the county.
Downer said it’s obvious the world’s climate has changed, given the oceans warming and worsening storms. She said the city has electric car charging stations, but they could use more, and she championed city efforts such as its water reclamation facility.
However, she said, the hydrogen used for buses is obtained by fracking, which she’s against, but would be in favor of it if the hydrogen is obtained differently.
Community services
On whether or not the city’s health and human service funding is correct, Downer said it’s the right amount as the agencies involved in the Sequim Health and Housing Collaborative have good histories with using money.
“There’s nothing wrong with giving money to other agencies, but it would be better to work in collaboration with other agencies, help them writing grants, help them by writing letters of support, and finding things for them that they need at that time,” she said.
Armacost did not directly answer the question, but said he was an original member of the Health and Housing Collaborative and he’s a member of the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe’s Healing Clinic advisory board.
He said it’s “seen some remarkable results with that addition to our community they are having success that nowhere in the country is able to meet those numbers.”
In his closing statement, Armacost said “the Jamestown Clinic has exceeded my expectations by creating a solution with pathways to treatment for those who are serious about restoring themselves into society.”
Armacost said his campaign is focused on unity, children, supporting police, enforcing drug policies and finding treatment pathways.
“As your member of the city council I will represent you first and I will never back away from a fight when the good of the people of Sequim is at stake,” he said.
In her closing statement, Downer said she didn’t retire to Sequim to change it.
“I love Sequim,” she said. “It’s a very awesome place to live.”
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Matthew Nash is a reporter with the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which is composed of Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News, Sequim Gazette and Forks Forum. Reach him at matthew.nash@sequimgazette.com.
Kathy Downer
