PORT ANGELES — Almost all of Port Angeles’ candidates in the Nov. 7, election were gathered under one roof Friday, answering questions from the public and urging voters to choose them in the upcoming contest.
A candidate forum hosted by the Soroptimist International of Port Angeles — Noon Club featured Port of Port Angeles District 3 candidates Connie Beauvais, the incumbent, and challenger Lee Whetham; Port Angeles City Council Position 5 candidates incumbent Amy Miller and Jim Haguewood; Position 6 incumbent candidate Navarra Carr; and Position 7 candidates incumbent and deputy mayor Brendan Meyer and challenger Kalli Mae Jones.
The only candidate missing from the forum was Mark Karjalainen, a Clallam County Fire District 3 firefighter and paramedic challenging Carr for her seat on the city council.
Candidates introduced themselves and answered two questions for each race, each tailored to the race.
Port of Port Angeles
Beauvais — who’s served as port commissioner for the past eight years — said she was proud of her accomplishments on the commission including stormwater infrastructure and renovations at the airport and wanted to diversify the port’s lines of business.
“We need to continue developing barging opportunities, further develop the marine trade center, support value-added wood opportunities,” Beauvais said.
Expanding the amount of industrial land in the county was a priority, Beauvais said, as more space was need for businesses which provide well-paying jobs in the community.
A plumber and former Port Angeles City Council member, Whetham has prioritized restoring fishing on the Lower Elwha River as part of his campaign for election. Bring fishing back to the river would create additional business opportunities, Whetham said, by increasing tourism and opening new lines of business for the community.
“I’d like to form a port committee to put together ideas that may be put forward after my election to the port commission,” Whetham said. “Through economic development, these ideas would be the basis for negotiations with all parties for the national dam removal project.”
Asked about his priorities for Port Angeles, Whetham agreed that more industrial space was needed and emphasized restoring Elwha River fishing.
Beauvais said the port could assist with the city’s housing needs by bringing more industrial jobs to the area that pay wages that allow workers to afford housing.
PA City Council
Position 5
Haguewood, a lifelong resident of Port Angeles and current real-estate broker, said he had the knowledge and experience of leadership to represent the most citizens of the city.
“In my background, I deal in a sense of reality and results and I think that’s something that’s absent in our current council,” Haguewood said.
In response to a question about homelessness, Haguewood said the city should do as private homeowners have been advised to do to their own properties and increase lighting, take care of landscaping needs to reduce shrubbery and enforce signage.
“We need to have a more proactive or leaning into the idea that those people that are in our public spaces, that we get them to where they need to go to get additional help,” Haguewood said. “Sleeping in the estuary park or in front of a store, we as a community can do better than that.”
Miller, a social services worker who was appointed to the city council to fill the seat vacated by Mike French after he was elected to the Clallam County commission last year, said that while not originally from Port Angeles, she quickly became involved in community work after moving to town in 2016.
Miller was responsible for the creation of the REdisCOVERY program which places a full-time social worker with police to work closely with officers and others to help respond to people suffering from mental health or substance abuse issues.
Having worked extensively with homelessness, Miller said there was a way to tackle the issue with compassion while still enforcing laws and holding people accountable.
“The biggest overarching solution is housing,” Miller said. “I support and believe that the city council is really doing an awful lot of work in supporting and incentivizing development and making it easier and cheaper to build.”
Position 6
Carr, a law school student, is the youngest member of the council, the first openly LGBT person elected to the council and the only member who rents instead of owning a home. Carr said her experiences help bring a perspective to the council that wouldn’t be there without her.
In response to a question about where the city should spend more money than it takes in, Carr said the city’s first responders were struggling with high call volume.
“We’ve had an increase not only in people in the community but also in call volume. Our firefighters are responding to around 6,000 calls a year,” Carr said. “A part of this is we have an influx of people. We also have an aging population. We also have people who are struggling and need support.”
Carr said the city cannot raise enough money for the fire department through taxes alone and needs to find additional funding to support both fire and police.
Karjalainen, who previously worked as a firefighter in Port Angeles, did not attend but has said in past candidate forums that he doesn’t believe the current council adequately reflects the desire of a large portion of the community.
“I believe there is more than enough room in the conversation for multiple ways to attack a problem,” Karjalainen said in his candidate statement to the county. “I have seen the serious decline in the health, safety and security for our citizens and businesses within our city due to well-intended, but mistaken policies.”
Position 7
Meyer is a self-employed marketing consultant who moved with his family to the area from the East Coast. Meyer said he has often been a lone vote on the council and has gained the experience to work within the system to affect change.
He said the city could address unemployment by partnering with local entities to expand the region’s job base. The Clallam County Economic Development Council does a good job of helping small businesses get started, Meyer said, adding that he’d like to see that model expanded into the tech industry.
“An entry-level programming job right now is $80,000 a year,” Meyer said. “I think (we should) get working with a tech EDC too to bring in some more tech-based jobs and then offer more schooling through Peninsula College.”
Jones, a former nurse practitioner who returned to her native Port Angeles to raise her family, said her priority on the council would be public safety. Jones has said the current council has failed to adequately address such issues as increasing crime, homelessness and drug use.
Police and firefighters are “underfunded and they’re overworked,” Jones said. “We’re seeing a lot of compassion burn-out with our first responders on these kind of things, so I would like to see a more robust response in our police department.”
Jones also said she wants to remove bureaucratic hurdles to businesses. Restoring the city’s industrial base would also improve issues like homelessness and unemployment, she said.
Port Angeles City Council members do not represent a particular district or area of the city and are elected to serve four-year terms. Both council and port commission races are nonpartisan.
Election Day is Nov. 7, and ballots will be mailed to voters on Wednesday. Voter registration is available until 8 p.m. on Election Day, but online voter registration ends Oct. 30. Online voter registration and additional election information is available at votewa.gov.
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Reporter Peter Segall can be reached at peter.segall@peninsuldailynews.com.
