PORT ANGELES — Relationships with the city’s neighbors and the future of the Port Angeles waterfront figured prominently in Wednesday night’s City Council and Port commissioner candidate forum held at City Hall.
Sponsored by Peninsula News Network and the PDN, the forum featured candidates for three City Council seats and one Port of Port Angeles commissioner position.
Panelists Dennis Bragg of PNN and PDN Executive Editor Rex Wilson and Commentary Page Editor Paul Gottlieb posed questions and allowed candidates on the Nov. 8 ballot to explore other ideas and respond to their opponents.
The forums will be televised on PNN on Wave Broadband cable channel 3 in Port Angeles/Sequim starting tonight at 7.
Port commissioner race
In the race for Port of Port Angeles District Position 2, incumbent Leonard Beil, 82, said commissioners should be less concerned about profits and more about breaking even while making economic development its primary purpose.
“The main thing the Port should be creating is jobs for the community,” Beil said.
Challenger George Schoenfeldt, 56, said the Port should be aggressively searching for new customers, especially from outfits based in British Columbia that pass by Port Angeles.
“Instead of waiting for them to come to us, we should be going to them,” Schoenfeldt said.
Schoenfeldt also said the Port should find a site for a staging area to increase the port’s capacity.
Beil said that Schoenfeldt had numerous opportunities to suggest ways for the Port to attract new business while he worked as a joint dispatcher for the Pacific Maritime Association.
He also questioned whether Schoenfeldt could separate himself from his work with unions.
Schoenfeldt said that in his position he works for both employers and employees.
“I’ve had both of them mad at me,” he said.
The forum with Beil and Schoenfeldt will be broadcast at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 24.
City Council races
In the race for City Council Position 2, Cherie Kidd, 59, stressed cooperation between the city and its neighbors, referencing the council’s showdown with Clallam Public Utility District over supplying water to customers east of the city.
Larry Williams, 59, said the incident was a contractual dispute exacerbated by media coverage.
Williams said the city cooperates “quite well” with its neighbors and said a main issue of his is waterfront development.
The forum discussion between Kidd and Williams will be broadcast at 7 p.m. today.
In the run-off for City Council Position 3 between challenger Jerry Morris and incumbent Karen Rogers, the issue of cooperation with the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe was repeatedly brought up by Morris, with Rogers emphasizing her work with the downtown Gateway project.
Morris, 66, a Clallam Transit bus driver, emphasized his perspective as a working person and said his campaign was focusing on reconciling the Lower Elwha and the city over Tse-whit-zen, the ancient village and burial site unearthed during work on the now-defunct Department of Transportation graving yard.
“Let’s face it, I’m a one-issue candidate,” he said.
Rogers, 47, said local government should look to shoring up the city’s status as a vacation destination and defended her support of adding fluoride to the city’s drinking water.
“We have the research, the facts, the data, the hearings and we made a decision,” she said.
The forum between Rogers and Morris will be broadcast at 7:30 tonight.
In the race for the City Council’s Position 4 between incumbent Richard Headrick and challenger Betsy Wharton, similar themes of cooperation were touched upon.
Wharton, 45, emphasized that Port Angeles should help encourage a diverse economy and develop the waterfront, as well as promote residential living downtown.
Headrick, 68, said the waterfront would be an anchor for the local economy, but cautioned that there may be more discoveries of ancient Native American sites.
The Wharton-Headrick forum will be broadcast at 7 p.m. Oct. 24.
Headrick currently serves as mayor, a position that the council elects. If he wins another term, he said he wants to return to regular councilor duties.
“I’ve had a lot of attention the past few years,” he said.
More forums will be held tonight at Port Angeles City Hall, 321 E. Fifth St.
They will feature Port Angeles School Board candidates Lynn Geren and Patti Happe at 7 p.m. and Nancy McLaughlin and Richard Johnston at 7:30 p.m.
At 8 p.m., candidates for the Sequim Aquatic Recreation Center — David McArthur and Terry Smithton — will debate.