News - Local News

POSTED: Saturday, Aug. 01, 2009

Three contend for Blaine City Council seat

BLAINE - Two men are vying against incumbent Charlie Hawkins for the at-large seat on Blaine City Council.

John George and David Gallion will challenge Hawkins for the position during the Aug. 18 primary. The top two candidates will then compete in the November election.

Each candidate spoke about the issues facing Blaine.

Question: A potential deal to sell the airport just fell through. What do you think the city should do with the property?

Gallion: "I didn't mind closing the airport if no solution came up to fix it, but I believe we should have kept it running until we had a viable plan.

"I would keep the land. We have in Blaine a very unique situation. We have probably the second-largest truck route going through our town. With that many trucks I can imagine a very well-built and designed green truck stop that could be used for them to pull right in when they get off (the road). Tax dollars could be spent there. Everything, all the tools we need, are there."

George: George accused the city of doing a backdoor deal to sell the airport the first time.

"That property is extremely valuable. ... When you have a piece of public property for sale it needs to be sold and published and allow everyone the opportunity to bid on the property and purchase it.

"(It needs to be) open to the public to purchase it and nationally represented and sold."

Hawkins: "We have to continue marketing it.

"Originally, we were trying to sell it as a single piece of property, but we might be forced to sell in pieces. We need to try to market it to as big an area as possible and hope somebody will buy part of it."

Q: City officials have proposed reducing the size of Blaine's urban growth area. Do you agree with this proposal?

Gallion: "Blaine made a mistake long before I moved up here with the annexing of east Blaine, which really threw us out of balance. If we hadn't done that we wouldn't have this problem, but hindsight is 20/20.

"The best thing for us to do is to consider more expansion heading toward Birch Bay and try to lose some out of the east side where nothing is going to be done for a long time. I believe more infrastructure would be more beneficial for the west than it would for the east at this time."

George: "I'm not fully up to speed on the subject. Honestly, until I've had a chance to review it I wouldn't have an intelligible answer.

"If it's reducing the amount of property that can be developed, it seems to me all we're doing is putting more regulation on people who own property, and I'm opposed to the government telling people what they can do with their property."

Hawkins: "Yes, I do agree with it.

"Because of the addition of east Blaine, it threw our natural growth areas out of whack. Because we added that, we're forced to focus on that area and not do the urban growth area around Drayton Harbor.

"We need to get the area adjacent to east of Odell Road and east of the airport, and we need to keep that in our urban growth area because that's the easiest, most natural way."

Q: What is another challenge or issue the city is facing, and how would you address it if elected?

Gallion: "In a strong, fiscal-minded community, out of the red and into the black, everything seems to work better. I've been on the planning commission, and I know how to talk and communicate with the public and let them know that we're (working on it). We're going to keep what we do transparent.

"If we're always behind the game, owing money, making poor decisions with the airport and annexation and we're always in the hole, it's shaky and people are not performing at their best.

"I would like to see Blaine more stabilized and getting in the black financially, getting the reserves up. I just believe that's the sign that the city will be moving more smoothly."

George: "We need to become more business-friendly with developers and with investors. This town is literally dying, decaying.

"We've got some people who, in my opinion, need to go. (Community Development Director) Terry Galvin has made it so difficult for developers to come to this town. If he doesn't like you he'll make your life very difficult. That's the No. 1 thing I would do, get rid of the city planner and put someone in his place who knew the rules and was palatable when it came to dealing with developers."

Hawkins: "I think being able to solve the finances because of the closure of the airport is going to be an ongoing problem for us. We had to borrow a lot of money, and if we don't pay that back it'll be a hardship for the community.

"It's also important to update the shoreline plans for Semiahmoo and for the city of Blaine."

COMING NEXT WEEK

The Bellingham Herald will publish an article examining allegations candidate John George has made against city employees and officials. The Herald is waiting for city documents sought in a public records request.

DAVID GALLION

Age: 57

Family: He and wife, Bao Yan, have three children: Ryan, 14, Katherine, 15, and Laura, 22.

Education: Two-year degree from Kern Community College in Bakersfield, Calif.

Employment: Retired in 2003 from 24 years of working for and running Kern Community College's automotive department.

Experience: Ran unsuccessfully for City Council two years ago against Jason Overstreet. Also has been a planning commissioner for four years and chairs the Shoreline Committee.

E-mail address: dave.gallion@gmail.com

JOHN GEORGE

Age: 51

Family: He and wife, Sue, have four adult children.

Education: Attended California State University at Sacramento and American River College.

Employment: President of the Ladies Diamond Poker Club.

Experience: No political experience but has attended council meetings.

E-mail address: foxprintingservice@comcast.net

CHARLIE HAWKINS

Age: 63

Family: He and wife, Marsha, have five kids: Trisha, 17, and four adult sons.

Education: Graduated from Blaine High School in 1964. Attended Skagit Valley College and Western Washington University.

Employment: Bus driver for Blaine School District and part-time van driver for Stafholt Good Samaritan Center nursing home in Blaine.

Experience: Has been on the Blaine City Council for four years. Has also been on the Drayton Harbor Shellfish Protection District Advisory Committee, Stormwater Development Advisory Committee and Port of Bellingham Advisory Committee.

Phone: 332-8535.

CAMPAIGN FINANCES

All candidates have filed their personal financial statements, but in cities with less than 5,000 registered voters candidates do not need to file additional information if they don't raise more than $5,000.

ABOUT THE POSITION

Each of the three candidates is vying for the Ward 2, Position 4 seat in the Blaine City Council, which pays $150 per regular meeting attended, about $3,000 a year. Whoever wins the race would become one of seven member of City Council, which sets the city's budget, creates policies and votes on ordinances and resolutions affecting the city's about 5,000 residents.