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POSTED: Saturday, Oct. 17, 2009

Weimer faces challenge from Luke for County Council seat

Whatcom County has to get back into compliance with state growth law and must continue focusing on water-quality issues, contain ballooning costs of the criminal justice system and develop better transparency in government, Carl Weimer said.

Those are the four priorities for the current County Council member, who is seeking re-election in November.

His challenger, Michelle Luke, says the county must foster more public participation and outreach in planning. The planning department's "overzealousness" has left the county needing to do some damage control.

"I think we need to lose the dictator posturing," she said.

"We also need to be supporting our businesses, which we need to look at as playing a part of our quality of life," she said.

The candidates are squaring off in the November election for the County Council, District 3, Position A, seat. Following are questions for and answers from the candidates:

What is the county's role in economic development?

Luke: She thinks the county should do a better job of providing predictability in land use, particularly for expanding businesses. The county needs to find places for businesses and "let businesses know that that's their home, that's where we want them to be, that's where they can grow and prosper." The county has failed to do that with its proposed update to zoning in rural areas, she said. The county needs to look at the economic impacts of its proposed update. Rather than looking simply at lines on a map, leaders need to look at the function of those rural areas. Harmed landowners should be compensated.

"If the whole community wants that to change, then the whole community should have to pay," she said.

What she has seen at Planning Commission meetings is no regard for the built environment, she said, and a desire to simply start over.

"I just think that we could be, as a culture, more respectful of business," she said. "Business and economic development are part of our way of life, just like our environment."

Weimer: First, the county is one of the major employers here, both through county employees and contract work, so it's important the county not contribute to unemployment.

"We've tried to avoid layoffs, we've tried to keep moving on the bigger road projects," he said. The county also needs to keep financially supporting Western Washington University's Center for Economic Vitality, which supports businesses.

The county also has a small amount of Economic Development Investment money to spend on publicly owned facilities, and there have been successes, particularly the Depot Market Square where Bellingham Farmers Market is held, he said. The county needs to see a direct jobs benefit to projects. He'd like to see the county use the money to build space to help farmers process foods or a building where business owners can learn about and have access to computers.

The proposed Terraquarium project isn't as bad as some people claim, he said; in other locations similar projects have sparked major waterfront redevelopments.

The County Council voted to increase sales taxes by one-tenth of 1 percent to support mental health programs? Was the tax increase a good decision?

Luke: She usually likes to see tax increases sent to the voters, but in this instance a case could have been made to have the council approve it, she said, adding that the state abandoned its funding responsibilities. She would still have asked the voters to approve or deny the tax.

Weimer: "I think that was a really good move," he said. The data showed a small number of offenders were repeatedly going through the criminal justice system. This was a first attempt to stop ever-increasing costs of the system.

"The hope is that by spending this money we're going to decrease our jail population and jail costs," he said, adding that he's surprised nobody has sued the county over jail crowding.

The tax increase also had a lot of support from various groups, which is rare, he said.

Lummi Nation has said it no longer wants county ferry operations on Gooseberry Point. The cost of the system is likely to increase. What do you think should be done? At what point is it unfair for all county residents to continue subsidizing the ferry?

Luke (a Lummi Island resident): The first thing the county should do is secure an agreement, offered by the Lummis, to continue ferry operations for five years, she said. Then all the stakeholders, including the Ferndale School District, should sit down and go over options.

In the future, the island isn't going to be as diverse as it is today, because lower-income people won't be able to afford to live there. "It's going to change into a more exclusive, expensive place to live," she said. The county's lack of planning has put residents in this situation, she said.

The county might want to look at creating a ferry district, but it'll depend on the future makeup of the island population, she said.

There are too many unknowns for her to say what percentage of the service the county should fairly subsidize. The entire county should pay some portion, but she expects users will pay a larger percentage of costs in the future.

Weimer: The ferry is going to be a pivotal issue in the next few years. The county is now looking toward Fairhaven as one option, but that's a longer run.

"The costs are going to go up, no matter how you look at this," he said. As they do, he has a hard time seeing how low-income people can continue living on the island. "I think we're going to see Lummi Island become lots more well-to-do folks."

Ferry users pay about 55 percent of the costs of the ferry system, and all county taxpayers subsidize the rest. He doesn't know when you get to the point when the subsidy becomes unfair, but he'd like to see user fees pay a higher percentage of costs. The increase shouldn't be all at once, because it could bankrupt some people.

He sees the ferry system changes as an opportunity. For example, some island communities have gone car free, which can attract tourism and reduce ferry system costs.

ABOUT THE CANDIDATES

Michelle Luke

Age: 57

Family: Husband Steve, stepdaughter and son-in-law, stepson, four grandchildren.

Education: Graduated from Bellingham Beauty School in 1973.

Employment: Current co-owner of L-Inc., marketing and sales company in home furnishings industry, former salon owner and hairdresser.

Experience: Took Growth Management Act short course twice, involved in Lummi Island subarea plan, transportation and shoreline management.

Web site: Votemichelleluke.com.

Carl Weimer

Age: 55.

Family: Wife Carol, two grown daughters.

Education: Bachelor's degree in natural resources from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor; Associate of Applied Science degree in industrial electronics technology from Peninsula College, Port Angeles; teaching certificate in environmental education and social science from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.

Employment: Executive director of Pipeline Safety Trust, former executive director of RE Sources for Sustainable Communities, former general manager of Ferndale-based manufacturer Vangard Northwest, previously spent a decade working for various federal natural resource agencies, including the National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service.

Experience: Whatcom County Council member from 2006 to present serving on various committees; board member for ReUse Works, People for Puget Sound, Evergreen Intensive Tenant Support, Next Step Association; member of Whatcom County Competitiveness Task Force, Governor's Pollution Prevention Awards Selection Committee, U.S. Department of Transportation's Technical Hazardous Liquid Pipeline Safety Standards Committee, steering committee for USDOT Pipelines and Informed Planning Alliance, governor-appointed Washington State Citizen Committee on Pipeline Safety; served as environmental representative to Water Resource Inventory Area No. 1 countywide watershed planning effort.

Web site: VoteWeimer.com.

ABOUT THE POSITION

Each of the two candidates is vying for the Whatcom County Council's District 3, Position A, seat, which pays nearly $19,000 a year and represents the district that includes generally everything west of Guide Meridian.

Whoever wins the race in November becomes one of seven members of the council, which sets the county's budget, creates policies and votes on ordinances and resolutions affecting the county's 193,100 residents.