PORT TOWNSEND — General election filing week ended Friday with a flood of new candidates and several contested races on the Nov. 5 ballot.
The contests include a seat on the Port of Port Townsend board of commissioners, the only countwide race.
Chuck Fauls and Pam Petranek, both of Port Townsend, are vying for the Port of Port Townsend seat being vacated by incumbent Steve Tucker.
Fauls, 66, is employed by the port as a moorage office customer service representative. He worked for the port from 2006-2013 as a clerk and fuel dock supervisor.
Whether Fauls would quit his job as a port employee if he wins the election “is still up in the air,” Fauls said Friday.
He said he does not believe serving in both capacities creates a conflict of interest.
Fauls compared the relationship to port commissioners who are port-moorage tenants.
He said he would recuse himself if a conflict arose.
“I have spent a lot of time working for the port and it’s something that I love and believe in,” he said Friday.
“I just see this as another opportunity to provide service to the port and port patrons.”
A Detroit native, the retired logistics engineer grew up in Florida and moved to Port Townsend in 2005.
Pam Petranek, 59, is a commercial angler whose partner, Rick Oltman, rents moorage for their boat from the port.
A Seattle native, Petranek is a lifelong Washington state resident and has lived in Port Townsend since 2006.
She is the secretary of the Port Townsend Marine Trades Association and has worked for the organization as a volunteer.
“I’ve been working to support the commissioners for a few years now, to support the strength and vitality of the marine trades,” Petranek said last week.
Primary election race
A four-person race emerged for Chimacum School Board that will be on the Aug. 6 primary ballot, mailed to voters in little more than eight weeks, on July 17.
Jeremiah (Jeremy) Perrott, Kristina Mayer, Gary Frogner and Steve Martin filed for the position being vacated by board Chairman Mike Gould, appointed in 2016. Gould did not file for the seat.
Any contest with more than two candidates will be voted upon in the primary. The two top vote-getters will go to the general election.
The Port Townsend City Council has three contested races.
Bernie Arthur filed Friday for the City Council Position 6 seat held by incumbent Amy Howard, who is seeking re-election.
Tyler Myles Vega also filed for City Council Position 7 held by Deputy Mayor David J. Faber, who is seeking re-election.
Monica MickHager filed Monday against incumbent City Council member Deborah Stinson, the council-selected mayor, who holds Position 3.
School board races in the Brinnon and Quilcene school districts became contested affairs Friday.
Position 2 incumbent Brinnon School Board member Ron Stephens drew a challenger when Cortney J. Beck withdrew as a candidate for Position 3 and filed for Stephens’ seat.
The new challenger for the Position 3 incumbent, Joe Baisch, is Jolene Elkins, who filed Friday.
Candidates Jenelle Cleland and Jessica Gossette put their names in for the Quilcene School Board Position 4 seat held by Paul Mahan, who decided to run for Position 5 instead. He is unopposed.
Quilcene School Board District 5 incumbent Trisha Freiberg filed for the District 1 seat held by Mark Apeland, who did not file for the office.
Harold J. (Jim) Sherwood and Doug Ross filed for the Port Townsend School Board District 3 position held by Nathanael L. O’Hara.
O’Hara, too, switched to Position 5. O’Hara is unopposed.
There are 342 Jefferson County voters who live in the Sequim School District.
Sequim School Board candidate Eric Pickens, a Port Angeles School District teacher and union president of the Port Angeles Education Association, picked up an opponent Friday when Charles W. Smith III filed for the position.
Jim Stoffer and Beth Smithson also are vying for a Sequim School Board position.
Clallam-Jefferson Fire Protection District 3, which has 403 Jefferson County voters, also has a contested race.
William (Bill) Miano has filed to run against incumbent James Barnfather.
East Jefferson Fire Rescue — Fire District 1 — has an Aug. 6 ballot measure to increase the board of commissioners to five seats to fulfill the voter-approved annexation of the city of Port Townsend into the district’s boundaries.
Sixty-eight candidates filed for 49 offices, but eight positions were vacant of filings.
They are on elected boards for Public Hospital District 1 (West), Queets-Clearwater School District, Clearwater Fire District (three positions), Paradise Water District (two positions) and Gardiner Cemetery District.
More information on a special filing period for those positions and any positions for which candidates withdraw their candidacies on Monday will be available this week from the Jefferson County Auditor’s Office.
The list of all candidates who have filed for office is at https://tinyurl.com/PDN-JeffersonFilings.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 55650, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.