Issues

In a time when counties across the nation are choosing to defund the police, this board of county commissioners has made historic investments in the men and women in uniform right here at home.

     Your sheriff came to us one day with an idea.  His concern was that while we had good metrics responding to crimes, we simply didn't have the resources to solve many of them.  His idea was to add a full time investigator to the department, and to identify an existing deputy for such a task.  It quickly became apparent how necessary this truly was.  Our investigator was able to dig in to the tasks that the active patrols rarely had enough hours in the day to accomplish.  Our ability to get warrants issued in a timely fashion enhances the entire department's capacity for  rapid response and for solving crimes.  The people of Pend Oreille County don't just deserve safety, they demand justice.  The addition of an investigator to the Sheriff's department was so critical we added a second investigator in the following budget year.

     Our men and women in uniform perform critical functions for the county and our commitment to funding them should never waver.  This is a fundamental building block for any healthy community, and we are fortunate to have some highly skilled men and women in service to this county.

      Pend Oreille County has many first rate health care professionals.  Our care facilities have improved dramatically thanks to a lot of hard work and investment.  It is a credit to this county and a tremendous comfort for an aging populace.  The addition of the NEW Health facility in Newport unequivocally improves the quality of life in this county.

     Our continued progress on mental and behavioral health care has been a priority for the BOCC.  Through my volunteer work hosting homeless youth from Youth Emergency Services, I have come to see firsthand much of the damage that is just beneath the surface in this county.  As a board member for the Martin Hall juvenile detention facility I have tracked the impacts to much of Eastern Washington.  If our legislators continue this trend of decriminalizing everything, it is our youth who will pay the price.  While we have managed to stave off the worst of the bills, we know that many of the bad ones will return next year.

     As a solution driven leader I am not particularly interested in temporary "band-aid" type solutions.  In regards to mental health, trying to care for individuals after years and decades of damage is possibly the least effective and highest cost solution for our problems.  As commissioner I have worked to get ahead of the problem by creating options and opportunities to break the cycle of social dependency and welfare.  Simply put, never underestimate the power of providing hope and purpose.

     Pend Oreille County has so much to offer!  We have some of the most breathtaking countryside on the planet.  We have world class recreation.  We have some of the fastest internet available.  Our power rates are highly attractive to any number of business sectors.  So why does it feel like everyone is growing around us while we are stuck in neutral?

     As commissioner my highest priority is removing the hurdles to economic development.  After years in litigation, Pend Oreille County finally prevailed in our effort to update the county comprehensive plan to a business friendly document.  For the first time in the history of Pend Oreille County we have parcels that are zoned industrial.  For the first time in the history of Pend Oreille County we have parcels that are zoned commercial.  So much of our commerce and industry to date has been done by way of conditional use permits, and that is simply not good enough.  Investors will finally be able to control their costs and their timelines.  What does this mean for you?  Land use was the single largest hurdle to economic development in this county, and we were successful in making our land use permissive!

     We will replace industry with industry.  We will increase our ability and capacity to export.  We will bring money into this county once more, and we will be prosperous again.

     Our narrow commerce base makes us more susceptible to economic downturns and higher tax rates.  As a county we have not done enough to replace our primary businesses as they have closed down over the years.  It is critical for the stability of the county that we work to bring more export driven business here.

     In a recent study sponsored by the Pend Oreille County EDC, the direct, indirect, and implied impact of losing Teck Mine and PNC was estimated to be more than 264 million dollars. Since this study we have seen the closure of both the Teck mine and PNC.  The loss of industrial payers to the property tax base means that the citizens pick up the bill.  Attracting dense revenue generation and diffusing the property tax burden with commercial payers is the surest way to keep your property tax levies from climbing.

https://pocedc.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/PendOreilleCountyEDC-EconomicImpactStudy-20180516.pdf

     Pend Oreille County was built on industry.  The local paper is called the Miner.  The county seat is named Newport.  Our mines are closed and so are most of our exports.  Long gone are the days of a hundred plus logging trucks a day rolling through town.  We have been sustained on industry by way of our mines, our lumber mills, and our newsprint facility.  It is industry and industry alone that will rebuild this county.  With our recent changes in land use, it is our expectation that this county is a much more attractive place to be an exporter.  Working with community development and the planning commission, we have made the commitment to update the development regulations annually in our efforts to have a more permissive environment for business.

     Can a balance be struck between economy and ecology?  The state department of ecology seems to think so.

     "Our innovative partnerships sustain land, air, and water in harmony with a strong economy"     - ecology.wa.gov

     As commissioner I am committed to relying only on the facts and science before I make recommendations.  We can ill afford to discriminate against entire business sectors before we have an environmental impact statement to guide our decisions. 

     The federal and state environmental protocols are in place for a reason.  We need to allow the process to unfold and trust the people with the doctorates over the local environmental activists.

     Simply put, Washington state's environmental restrictions are among some of the most stringent in the country.  If a business can navigate their checklist for compliance, they will be considered if I am commissioner.

     As a conservative I also struggle with the idea that anyone sitting on the board of county commissioners would choose to limit your freedoms and dictate to you in what way you are allowed to support your family.

     With the loss of Teck Mine and the uncertainty of exporting newsprint in the digital information age, it is critical now more than ever that this county choose a strong leader.  Navigating the imminent and potential issues facing our community will take vision, decisiveness, and integrity.

     My leadership style is simple.  I choose to surround myself with people better than me, and do everything in my power to give them the tools necessary to succeed.  An effective leader is one who gets the best out of every collaboration. 

     As I considered the challenges this county faces, and my ability to be impactful as your commissioner, there was one factor above all that pushed me into this campaign.  The quality of our elected officials and administrators in this county is outstanding.  As far as I am concerned, the real silver lining in these particularly challenging times is the caliber of leadership in place in this county right now.  We have a great opportunity here to refine our vision and build this county up in such a way that we can stand on our own.