News - Local News

POSTED: Friday, Oct. 23, 2009

Chambers, Lilliquist seek Bellingham City Council Ward 6 seat

BELLINGHAM - Fairhaven neighborhood activist Michael Lilliquist wants to take the civic experience he's gained the past few years to work on careful planning for the city's growth.

Catherine Chambers wants to use her experience as a social worker and activist to bring people together and be a consensus builder on the most important issues facing Bellingham.

The two are vying for the Ward 6 City Council seat being vacated by Councilwoman Barbara Ryan, who has decided not to seek re-election.

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 will you work to protect Lake Whatcom water quality, the drinking water source for Bellingham residents?

Chambers: "It's a complicated issue, but generally the solution is fairly simple," Chambers said. "That is we have to keep the phosphorous out of the lake. That means runoff from the streams into the lake, we've got to keep those stream beds clear. We have to encourage people to plant, put more plants in, put more trees in to filter the water." Chambers said the city needs to look at stormwater issues and that she was "still looking into that."

"We have to look at when public works is replacing roads to narrow those roads. I think the city has to be an advocate with the Bellingham School District with the possibility of a Sudden Valley school, it'll help with Geneva's amount of traffic going to Sudden Valley."

Chambers said she wanted to get the community involved in protecting the lake and work on the Silver Beach ordinance to get commitment from the community.

Lilliquist: "First, fixing Lake Whatcom and protecting our drinking water will be difficult and expensive. But not protecting our quality is unacceptable and will make our actions more difficult and more expensive," he said. "We must protect it from further development and restore it by reversing effects of existing development. Even if all development was stopped today, quality would continue to decline."

The goal is to keep water on site and running it into the ground rather than into the lake. Reversing the flow of contaminants will "require ground-up revision of how we handle stormwater and how we build our roads and impervious services," he said. Streets and rights of way continue to be a problem, and the city can work "on converting them to be part of the solution."

"I think that the city will need to create visible signs of the actions we are taking to gain the credibility that we will need to begin asking more of our residents and to cement our cooperation with the county," he said.

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

Chambers: "I think the role is for us to set the vision about what we, as a city, want. I see that as the mission piece," Chambers said. "We have a number of economic development groups out there all working independently, and I think if the city worked closer with the county on setting a vision about how we want to grow our economic development, that could help these organizations work together for the same purposes.

"One of the things that I have thought about is that without a vision we can't really make decisions about planning that involves the business community, in terms of do we have the property for people to locate and start a business. We have to have that information to make the planning decisions that we're going to be making in terms of commercial land and industrial land. I would really like us to take a strong stand and put forth a strong vision about economic development."

Lilliquist: "I do believe the city has a role in economic development in large part by providing the general atmosphere of the sort of city that businesses will locate in and also by partnering with business associations and business owners when those opportunities arise."

He doesn't know the details of Mayor Dan Pike's proposal for an Office of Business Relations & Economic Development but believes it may be a step in the right direction. In terms of partnerships, he recently attended a meeting cosponsored by the Technology Alliance Group, the city and Sustainable Connections that helps local businesses determine what funds and programs they could tap to bring new workers on board in a way to defray upfront training costs. He believes that's a great program that didn't cost much for the city to promote.

He believes there may be a perceived disconnect between the city's actions in economic development. "I have no doubt that everyone in the city wants to see our economy return to its former strength and particularly our local small businesses to lead the way," he said.

ABOUT THE CANDIDATES

Catherine Chambers

Age: 56

Family: Mother of three children.

Education: Bachelor's degree in community development.

Work experience: Not currently employed. Has worked as a case manager/social worker at Catholic Community Services, Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Services of Whatcom County, Whatcom Counseling and Psychiatric Clinic and more.

Civic experience: Whatcom County Democratic Women's Club chairwoman, president of Washington State Federation of Democratic Women, volunteered with Campfire USA.

Michael Lilliquist

Age: 46

Family: Wife Barbara Hahn and daughter Rebecca.

Education: Bachelor's degrees in history and psychology from the University of Washington, a Ph.D. in behavioral neuroscience from the University of Texas at Austin.

Work experience: Recently trained as a paralegal.

Civic experience: Active in the Fairhaven neighborhood association, serves on the Mayor's Neighborhood Advisory Commission, Lake Whatcom Watershed Advisory Board and the Lake Whatcom Technical Review Taskforce. Serves on steering committees of Futurewise Whatcom, on the Parent Teacher Association site council and on the board of trustees at Bellingham Unitarian Fellowship.

ABOUT THE POSITION

Each of the two candidates is vying for the Bellingham City Council Ward 6 seat, which pays $20,784 a year and represents south Bellingham beginning with the southern portions of the South Hill, Happy Valley and Samish neighborhoods.

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.