News - Local News

POSTED: Sunday, Oct. 25, 2009

Fleetwood, Smith battle for Bellingham City Council At-Large seat

BELLINGHAM - Whatcom County Councilman Seth Fleetwood wants to bring his eight years of experience in county government to the City Council.

Conservative accountant Orphalee Smith decided to mount a write-in campaign to give voters another choice.

The two are seeking the city's At-Large seat being vacated by Councilwoman Louise Bjornson, who has decided to retire after two decades in office.

They spoke to The Bellingham Herald about a variety of topics, from economic development to growth and Lake Whatcom water quality protection.

Question: As a City Council member, how would you work to protect Lake Whatcom, the drinking water source for Bellingham residents?

Fleetwood: "I offer a great deal of experience on the subject," he said. "Eight years ago on the County Council, the new majority said not enough had been done, and we went about building a full protection program. Clearly we're still in the process of building that.

"We worked at trying to reduce density potentials in the watershed, which is the No. 1 most effective thing you can do (to prevent runoff into the lake). We added county code amendments to increase protection, limited the footprint of homes in the watershed, increased setbacks, required more trees on site and put in effect a seasonal land-clearing ban."

He said the County Council also instituted a significant downzone and a ban on products that included phosphorous. A city-county pilot program at Silver Beach Creek will help analyze what can be implemented throughout the area. The single most important thing is on-site filtration, he said.

Smith: "I'll be honest, I'm not an expert on the lake," she said. "But nobody wants to see it polluted, and everyone wants clean water."

The city has done a good job managing the portion of the lake within its boundaries. She said that since Georgia-Pacific Corp. is no longer pulling water out of the lake that it's not being flushed as much, and that used to keep a lot of the phosphorous levels down, in her opinion.

Smith said that, though they might now, the city and county should have an interlocal agreement to work on the lake. If they do, she believes it's not functioning.

(Editor's note: The city, county and Lake Whatcom Water & Sewer District have had such an agreement since 1998.)

Q: What are your priorities for the city's budget, and as a council member how would you work toward preserving those priorities?

Fleetwood: "I've done eight years of budgets in good times and bad," Fleetwood said. "I know what it means to cut."

He said the assumption or expectation is that the new council will have to address revenue shortfalls. "Budget cutting is a thoughtful, deliberative process," Fleetwood said, noting that he didn't think it was fair for people to automatically ask what should be cut. "There needs to be painful discussions, major reflection in context of the entire budget."

In terms of Mayor Dan Pike's 1 percent property tax increase proposal for 2010, he said he hasn't made up his mind about it yet. "It seems like a thoughtful, balanced effort to address where we're at right now. I don't have a final opinion on it. I'm by no means outrightly opposed to it."

Smith: She said the main reason why she was running was because of the budget. She wants to look at the city's priorities.

"To me, it's public safety, clean water, good roads," Smith said. "I suspect they are funding programs that if they really looked at it, they'd know it's not the role of government."

Asked about specifics, Smith didn't provide any.

"I'd have to go in and look at the budget in detail, maybe this is my gut reaction. If I looked at the budget, I'm sure there could be savings. I just feel that there are programs that are not the real responsibility of city government." Smith said.

She doesn't believe the 1 percent property tax increase for 2010 proposed by Pike should be passed. "Personally, at this time in this economy I don't think it's a good idea. I understand where he's coming from," she said. "I don't think we're out of this. I think it's going to be long term."

Q: What is the city's role in economic development?

Fleetwood: Economic development is enormously important in this recession, he said. "We didn't cause it, but clearly we have to do everything in our power as a city government to promote jobs."

He said the primary way would be a commitment to communicate with knowledgeable people, work with agencies that promote such development and foster strong partnerships with those people and groups. He said that as a County Council member he supported providing funding to the local chamber of commerce for its operating budget, and they also provided funding to the Northwest Economic Council and Western Washington University's Center for Economic Vitality.

Smith: We need to make it easier for businesses to develop within city limits, she said. As a local accountant, she's had small-business clients in the construction industry complain about the city's permitting process and that it doesn't make it easier to develop a business.

"My big concern is with some of the attitudes that have been portrayed by City Council members that they don't want economic development or growth," she said. "Maybe it's not the council, maybe it's the perception that Bellingham is a hard place to do business. And perception can be reality."

ABOUT THE CANDIDATES

Seth Fleetwood

Age: 46.

Family: Single.

Education: Bachelor's degree from the University of Washington, law degree from Willamette University College of Law.

Work experience: Owns his own law practice based in Fairhaven.

Civic experience: Two-term Whatcom County Council member; co-chair, Countywide Housing Affordability Taskforce; former chairman of the Bellingham Greenways Committee; former board member of the Washington Conservation Voters, the Clean Water Alliance and Bellingham City Club.

Orphalee Smith

Age: 72.

Family: Widow.

Education: Bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of Puget Sound, master's in business administration in taxation from Golden Gate University.

Work experience: Previously with Metcalf, Hodges; has owned her own accounting firm since 1981.

Civic experience: Appointed to Washington State Board of Accountancy by Gov. Mike Lowry, American Society of Women Accountants, Western Washington University Foundation trustee, Whatcom Community College trustee, St. Joseph Hospital Community Council member, Whatcom Hospice Foundation treasurer, interfaith Coalition of Whatcom County treasurer, Whatcom Symphony Orchestra Board member, organizing member of the Bellingham City Club, St. Paul's Academy treasurer, Bellingham Bay Rotary Club member, Soroptimist International of Bellingham president.

ABOUT THE POSITION

Each of the two candidates is vying for the Bellingham City Council At-Large seat, which pays $20,784 a year and represents all of Bellingham.

Whoever wins the race in November becomes one of seven members of the council, which sets the city's budget, creates policies and votes on ordinances and resolutions affecting the city's 76,500 residents.