Island County Commissioners

District 1

Helen Price-Johnson, incumbent   D         helen@helenpricejohnson.org

http://helenpricejohnson.org/

Priorities

Small Business:  Helen understands that to preserve our rural character, Island County needs a balanced economic strategy.  

Doing business with local companies is vital to the stability of our local economic future.  The sales taxes generated locally help support local government services such as transit, mental health and criminal justice programs. 

Helen supports the efforts of our local farms, restaurants, and markets in creating a sustainable Farm to Table infrastructure and Farm to Market programs.  We can enhance tourism, sustain local families and protect our quality of life by investing in those things which we treasure, such as farmland, open space, and small businesses.

Transportation:  Island County is dependent upon regional connections for our transportation needs. Helen has provided strong advocacy at the regional and state level for small counties served by ferries, so as to preserve service levels for the two routes serving Whidbey Island. Further she has been a leader in promoting non-motorized trails on both Camano and Whidbey Islands for both bicyclists and marine access.

Environment and Growth:  Helen believes we must accommodate the growth coming to our islands while preserving the quality of life which makes Island County such a wonderful place to live.  Her balanced approach and visionary leadership has been essential in sustaining our economy and protecting our environment.

Helen has spent much of her second term as Commissioner working to preserve Conservation Futures funding and updating the Island County Comprehensive Plan and Shorelines Master Plan.  Her participation with the Coastal Caucus of the Washington Association of Counties and the Salmon Recovery Council of the Puget Sound Partnership has heightened her ability to advocate for Island County and its natural environment.

Law and Justice: Keeping our island communities safe is a high priority for Helen.  With the improving economy, and with her support and advocacy, the Commissioners have restored the majority of the pre-2009 funding to Island County's law and justice programs without a tax increase.  

Helen helped to bring attention to the rise of property crime related to addiction in her district. Helen has recently supported immediate investments in the Island County Jail related to safety and security of inmates and jail personnel.  She believes, however, that significant changes in the delivery of mental health services are necessary on a statewide basis in order to effect real change. Local jails have become the primary mental health facilities for the state. This has created a crisis in Washington.

Gary Wray                 R         laster.construction.com

https://www.facebook.com/Gary-Wray-for-Island-County-Commissioner-241887996188167/

GARY WRAY - A MAN OF THE PEOPLE, FOR THE PEOPLE!
A message from Gary -
For many years, I have been involved in several community organizations, on both the local and state levels. At this time, given the urging from numerous Island County citizens, I have decided that it is necessary for me to run for this position in order to effect change—smart change!
I believe the County Commissioner’s paramount duty is to create a balanced budget that sets priorities in spending for essential government services, such as law, justice, human health and safety. I will be a watchdog of the taxpayer’s dollar.
My experience working on a number of Boards and non-profit organizations has given me strong skills in collaboration and conflict resolution.
As a facilitator, I welcome in put from all citizens of the county, even if we don’t initially see eye-to-eye. It is my intention to balance citizens advisory boards to reflect our island’s diverse backgrounds. I will not represent any special interest group and pledge to keep the best interests of the county in mind.
Government transparency and open public meetings are critically important to me. I welcome citizen involvement and participation at all levels.

Helen Price-Johnson and I do not see eye to eye on many important issues. She assured me recently that she really does not hate me. Glad to hear it. Sadly, at the moment she’s the best county commissioner we have. She is not evil. She just has a very narrow focus, that focus being small business. She cannot see that by protecting Island County’s environment we are protecting the jobs that come from tourism, among other things. To her credit, she fought long and hard to maintain the Conservation Futures program which funds acquisition of those special places we love – like Double Bluff, the Greenbank Farm, agricultural open space, and a lot of beach access.

Her challenger, Gary Wray, is a rather loose cannon who appears occasionally at county hearings where he ‘testifies’ irrelevantly and clearly does not understand what is on the agenda or what the issues are. I do not judge him as capable of carrying out the duties of a county commissioner. We have the recent experience of Kelly Emerson to show us how that turns out.

Here are some responses to questions at the Whidbey Record’s forum.

Q – Freeland has been working to find funding for a sewer. Current funding is still $2.5 million short. Would you support Island County picking up that difference?

Helen: Freeland is caught in a web of contradictory regulations. The UGA was originally oversized and is now being reduced. Barbara Bailey says Freeland sewer funding is her #1 capital ask. There are just not enough people in the Freeland UGA to support construction of a sewer.

Gary Wray: I would not support such an expenditure. This is just a small population. Island County’s role is to seek outside funding. There’s a nitrate bloom headed toward Freeland’s wells. This may require federal funds. The beneficiaries of the sewer must pay for it. We need higher development densities to create affordable housing.

Q – How would you balance affordable housing against shrinking Urban Growth Boundaries?

Helen: Shrinking the UGA is not the same as reducing the number of buildable lots. Camano has no UGA at all, so there is no possibility of multi-family housing there. Langley has the example of Upper Langley. More multi-family zoning would be a good thing. Coupeville has a bit of it, but needs more.

Gary Wray: I’m the most knowledgeable about affordable housing. We need infrastructure, but not a sewer. Sunnyside (an affordable development in Freeland) has an expensive septic system. GMA requires density in the wrong places. You need to put growth where the ground perks. We need higher density, multi-family housing. Habitat for Humanity built 16 units in Langley in 4 years.

Q – How would you address the fact that the population on South Whidbey is aging?

Gary Wray – All of Island County is aging. You have to get creative to bring younger people to care for the aging people. Figure out how to share a large house with young people. Have creative ideas. There’s the Aging In Place movement. We need to build more accessory housing.

Helen – agrees with Gary Wray but says there is more to the issue. In order to age in place people need places that are safe to walk, have easy transit, have homes which are safe. She cites the farm school on South Whidbey as a way to help create opportunities for younger people. The recession cost a lot of jobs and the young families who would have taken those jobs left. We need to support tourism and trades, to increase higher education, and provide job training.

Q – How would you deal with the drug epidemic?

Helen – Its happening everywhere. It causes families pain and leads to property crime. We could ask other communities how they are responding. We’re trying to keep the mentally ill out of jail. We’re seeing prescription abuse. These people need treatment. There’s law and justice and then there’s the human side. We’ve been having a series of community meetings. We now have a counselor riding with the deputies.

Gary Wray – It’s a big problem and there’s no easy fix. It boils down to mental health and addiction treatment. There’s Compass Health. We need safe places for those people to live.

Q – What are your top 3 budget priorities?

Gary Wray – Commissioners only have control over the current expense fund. First I would fund law and justice. Second I would fund human services (employee pay and COLAs). Its expensive to have a revolving door, training people who then leave.

Helen – Maintaining our investments. There have been major changes in the jail and transition (from jail) program. We need a few more sheriff’s deputies. There are dedicated fund which come from permit fees. We want adequate staff to process those permits. The Road fund, bringing back jobs in road shops to handle vegetation management along our roads.

Q – Are taxpayers getting the services they’re paying for with our current tax rate. Should we entertain a County levy increase?

Gary Wray – A levy increase is a low option. We hear Island County has the lowest tax rate, but you have to measure population against taxes, and then you find its not so low. There are a lot of high value properties with absentee owners. We need to raise revenue by improving the economy. The 1% levy increase plus new construction and improvements just has to be enough. I would listen to the citizens and if they really want a levy lift, well, ok.

Helen – We tried Proposition 1 to lift the levy lid. We were faced with having to cut services by 20%. The vote was 72% no, so we had to cut those services. I supported the Law and Justice levy. Now I’m hearing requests for new services, among them a drug task force. How are we going to fund that?

I will vote for Helen Price-Johnson.

District 2

John Fowkes D         fowkes4folks@gmail.com

http://fowkes4folks.weebly.com/

Q - What will be your top three priorities, if elected?

The next board of commissioners will face the growth coming to our islands as the military expands at NASWI and that growth needs to be balanced to preserve the quality of life and the environment. Through this process we also need to remember our owner operated businesses, especially small retail shops, restaurants, and places to stay as these places add that friendly character that are loved by locals and tourists.

I would like to see solutions that take the fear out of business start-ups and recognize those who build businesses through their own sweat-equity. We need to support our local artisans and create an atmosphere where cottage industry and local farming thrives. In this way we can work on local jobs and climate change.

Island County Residents are seeing their share of struggles. Struggles for employment, Struggles with mental health, hopelessness, Drug addiction, Crime, Incarceration and we are right back to struggles for employment.   If we can stop this cycle we can save resources. Island County needs to review their mental health policies.  Housing First!

Q - What measures do you favor to keep your county economically viable?

I believe that supporting locally owned, owner controlled and operated businesses are better both economically and culturally. Small firms create 60% to 80% of new jobs in the US and rarely leave a hole too big to be filled by small competing local businesses. Local owners tend to work with other locals first keeping the money in the local economy longer. Locally owned firms tend to support local cultural events, youth sports teams, and non-profits more readily. I believe that ecotourism is good for Island County and small unique retail shops and restaurants add to the charm for locals and visitors alike.

Q - How do you view balancing development with protecting our natural resources?

We need to balance development with protecting our natural resources. When deciding on the balance it should be for the welfare of the people at large, not just the few.  Access to public beaches must be protected for the sake of tourism and quality of life and residents must be heard, and represented in their concerns for policies that may impact their lives.

Q - What is your stand on global warming?

Regardless of whether global warming is a natural phenomenon or a man made catastrophe this should be one point that is agreed upon by all citizens.  Island County will feel the effects of global warming and it will be a challenge especially as sea levels rise and sandy bluffs are undermined by erosion.  Higher tides, (up to 4 feet above current high tides now, predicted by 2030) with roads and buildings very close to sea level could prove a real challenge in the future of Island County.

Q - If you believe your area is affected by unusual weather patterns, what actions would you support to mitigate these effects?

Bringing a group of local experts together to form a "Climate change preparedness team" (if we do not have a team covering this already) would be a great start.  #actonclimate.

Jill Johnson, incumbent                  R         voteforjill@gmail.com

found no website for her. The Facebook page was mostly personal.

I found a favorable write-up in Island Politics, the far-right toxic blog, dating back to 2012.

My personal experiences with Jill have been uniformly negative. She clearly does not understand the basics of how government works or how one deals with multiple points of view on a particular issue. She has specifically asked me (and partner Steve) to please retire so she won’t have to deal with us anymore. Sorry Jill. Ain’t happening. She chose to go behind the backs of the public and Island Beach Access to negotiate a deal with the man who built the wall across the road at Greenbank. She really did not understand that she was giving away the store. She has said on the record that she sees no reason to abide by the rulings of the Growth Management Hearings Board, since she intends to appeal them anyway. And she has led the charge to defy the Hearings Board. And then she wonders why we feel constrained to haul her into court. It is Jill Johnson who has killed the Conservation Futures Fund which Helen Price-Johnson has been working so hard to keep alive. Jill really can’t see the value of protecting land in public ownership for the good of the entire community.

She also happens to be massively petty. Hearings devolve into something out of 4^th grade. It becomes embarrassing. I don’t know if she reads the actual language on which she is expected to rule, but too often she clearly does not understand it. Which loops back around to major arguments and eventually having to appeal yet again to the Growth Management Hearings Board. It does become a vicious cycle.

John Fowkes is very new to politics and will have a steep learning curve. On the other hand, that was true of Jill Johnson in 2012. Its true of every non-incumbent. John has the advantage of a nimble mind and an intense interest in learning how Island County’s government works and what he can do to improve that.

I have not yet figured out what Jill is getting out of being a commissioner other than a nice salary and being able to power trip others. Her actions speak loudly to the proposition that she does not have the best interests of all the people at heart.

I’ll be voting for John Fowkes.