Six candidates vying for seats up for reelection this fall on the Chehalis City Council and on local port commissions debated each other during a Thursday forum hosted by the Centralia-Chehalis Chamber of Commerce at O’Blarney’s Irish Pub in Centralia.
This was the second debate forum hosted by the chamber. It featured a surprise appearance from the five Little Miss Friendly finalists.
Last month, eight candidates for Centralia City Council debated topics such as the city’s streetscape plan, the state Department of Health’s quarantine facility at Lakeview Inn and federal infrastructure dollars.
The debate this time around was much more broad in scope, with port candidates focused on how to attract businesses and city council candidates digging into support for the business community and growing housing concerns as the state initiates masking and vaccination mandates amid rapidly growing COVD-19 cases.
Candidates included in this debate are running for Chehalis City Council’s at-large Position No. 1, Centralia Port Commissioner District No. 1 and Chehalis Port Commissioner District No. 2.
Challengers Kate McDougall and Terry Harris are currently running to fill outgoing Mayor Dennis Dawes’ seat on the Chehalis council. At the ports, two recently-appointed incumbents will face off against challengers; Paul Crowner will look to unseat Kyle Markstrom from his seat on the Port of Centralia and former Chehalis mayor Fred Rider will look to unseat Paul Ericson on the Port of Chehalis commission.
A Fresh Perspective and a Familiar Face
Dawes is not seeking a fifth term on the Chehalis City Council after four decades of public service in the Mint City.
Both Harris and McDougall have filed to serve on the council, with both candidates earlier this year applying to fill the role of former Mayor pro-tem Chad Taylor, who left after acquiring The Chronicle. Now, the two are vying for Dawes’ at-large seat.
Both candidates will be on the Nov. 2 ballot. Whoever garners the most votes during that general election will go on to serve four years on the Chehalis council.
Harris, 66, works as a barber and previously served on the council before being ousted by current Councilor Jerry Lord in 2019. He had served for 16 years on the council and most recently served as mayor pro-tem.
What sets him apart from McDougall is his experience on the council, Harris said, noting that he knows how to work to get things done on a legislative body where the representatives often don’t agree with each other.
“I haven’t found very many people that I can’t work with, and that’s a benefit to the people who are the constituents and the citizens of the city,” he said.
McDougall, 35, moved to Lewis County about two years ago after working at Harborview Medical Center and living in Mercer Island. She’s currently a student at Centralia College pursuing a bachelor’s degree in applied management.
She’s hoping to leverage her fresh perspective on the community to win over voters, noting a passion for addressing mental health and a desire to see what the city could do to help providers. McDougall and her family moved to Chehalis to work on her in-laws’ organic beef farm.
“Moving here, I really wanted to do something to be part of the community. I always like helping people. I’m really good at looking through charts, reading documents. I really have a strong passion to help with public safety,” she said.
On the topic of homelessness, McDougall and Harris agree that it’s important to get people into housing first in order to better address mental health concerns and poverty that leads to crime.
Harris said he’s an advocate for bringing decision-making on housing and homelessness services back to the local level, noting that while state assistance is appreciated, those decisions need to be made by people invested in the results.
“There are over 60 different groups or organizations in this community alone that are willing to help them in many different ways, from clothing to food to all the resources. Trying to get them to utilize them is part of the difficulty, and the one-size-fits-all type of government that the state is talking about doesn’t work,” he said.
McDougall said one of the most important aspects in getting people back into stable housing is getting them on insurance, which helps address their health and wellbeing.
“I think case management is a big thing because people are just falling through the cracks. I’ve seen it for years,” she said, noting that it’s important to meet people where they’re at. “I think that if they feel part of their community and get that help, they’re going to look at the community differently and not create those crimes because they feel pride about themselves and are getting help.”
With the city expected to receive about $2 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding, McDougall said she’d like to see the city focus on projects that really benefit businesses and address wage loss. She would also like to see some form of rent relief given and help to “build businesses up.” Harris said the important aspect of the ARPA funding will be to stay within the parameters set by the federal government.
The recent renaming of the poplar tree farm, a city-owned irrigation project, left many community members with passionate positions on the subject. City Manager Jill Anderson said they decided to retire its “plantation” moniker due to the connotation it can have with slavery.
Both McDougall and Harris agreed that it was the right move.
“I thought Jill handled it with class and with dignity to do that … If there are people whose situations are reminded of something that’s negative, I have my limits, but at the same time you have to be open to the feelings of people. It is a new year, it’s a new decade, it’s even a new century,” he said. “I’m not changing the colors on the flag, I’m just changing the word plantation to farm. I think that’s one thing I can give up.”
McDougall said it’s important to keep history, though it’s also important to note that there are certain words we just don’t use in today’s culture.
“Taking the word ‘plantation’ off doesn’t change the structure of the building, the memories there, but if that specific word is causing pain to people in our community, I just don’t see why we would keep it,” she said.
All Business in Centralia Port Race
Kyle Markstrom, the appointed incumbent looking to retain his seat representing Port of Centralia Commissioner District No. 1, is being challenged by retiree Paul Crowner.
Markstrom, 33, a lifelong Centralian, works for ZEV Technologies, a firearm accessory manufacturer and designer and also a port tenant. He said he helped lead the search to relocate their business down south from Tumwater after it outgrew its facility.
During the last seven years, staff has quintupled in size and Markstrom said he wants other businesses to experience a success similar to the one ZEV Technologies has had. He’ll be weighing his experience in the private sector as a hefty benefit to retain his seat.
“I’m very proud of my company’s story and I want to help other great companies achieve the same thing. I really care about this community and I really want to give back. This is just a small way as a port commissioner,” he said.
Crowner, 76, is running for a seachange at the port. His three priorities, if elected, are to bring greater transparency to the port and its board, bring a new vision to the port and replace top leadership.
“One example on why I’m running for this commissioner position is the large Centralia Station debacle. It was originally promoted as containing grocery stores, retail, college facilities, parks, hiking trails, and the like. Now, it’s being advertised online as a spot for warehouses and it’s being promoted with tax incentives and low wages. That’s not the best way I feel to attract top-notch people to relocate here,” said Crowner, who was a teacher for 37 years and worked as the education director at The Chronicle for about 10 years.
Markstrom countered Crowner’s claim on the Centralia Station project, noting it’s not fair to call it a “debacle.” Simply put, he said, there’s been a number of roadblocks on the issue.
“I would hardly refer to it as a debacle, but we have a lot of work to do and there’s a bright future ahead for Centralia and Centralia station. Port of Centralia has a long history of bringing in tenants that pay very good jobs, great careers for people in our community, and I look forward to helping continue that with Centralia Station Park 3,” Markstrom said.
When it comes to tenants who require large infrastructural investments and construction, Crowner said it shouldn’t necessarily be completely either the citizens or tenants that pay those costs.
“It’d be unfair to tell the company that they have to fund the whole amount, and the taxpayers would need to be notified somehow that the benefit would outweigh the cost,” Crowner said.
Markstrom said it’s important to have all the stakeholders at the table and involved in the process.
“I think when everybody stands to benefit, everybody should be at the table participating and willing to talk about how we’re going to get things to the finish line,” he said, noting it’s important to have local government participation as well. “Our school districts receive hundreds of thousands of dollars from the properties that have been developed by the Port of Centralia. Our fire and EMS services get hundreds of thousands of dollars every year in tax revenue, and so it’s really important that everybody sits down at the table and understands all those components and that we’re all pulling rope in the same direction because we stand to benefit.”
A Familiar Showdown
It was just earlier this summer that the remaining Port of Chehalis commissioners appointed Paul Ericson to fill a vacant seat after the resignation of Ken Kostick. Back then, Ericson faced off against former mayor Fred Rider for the appointment.
Now, the two are going back at it — and this time, it will be the voters in November choosing who represents Port District No. 2 for the next four years.
Ericson, 50, is the owner and president of Chehalis-based Shelton Structures. He’s lived in Lewis County 13 years and has high praise for the community.
He said he guides his “personal and business life by common sense,” and that’s exactly how he would guide the port in its decision making.
“I’m doing this because I really care about this community. I care about the health and prosperity of not only the people, but all of the businesses that are currently here,” Ericson said.
Rider, 66, holds an extensive background in government and the private sector. He currently works at ToledoTel as a sales engineer, where he also keeps an eye out on legislation and is sometimes a project manager.
As the port commission looks to replace outgoing CEO Randy Mueller, Rider believes he has the upperhand.
“I’ve hired city managers, I’ve hired business managers. With partners, I own five businesses and there’s managers in all of them. You have to find a person that has the right match,” he said, noting that they have to fit in with the independent mindset of Lewis County. “This is a multi-million dollar business, and that’s how (the port) needs to be looked at.”
Ericson said they’ll need to look for someone who has one foot in the business and development atmosphere and another in the legislative process.
When discussing the advantages of the port, Ericson said its biggest assets is the location and how shovel-ready some sites are.
“We’re really attractive to distribution facilities, but I prefer manufacturing jobs. I think they have a bigger impact on the community,” Ericson said, noting that manufacturers play more hand-in-hand with the local economy.
Both said they are in favor of building a flood-retention dam along the Chehalis River, noting the stability it would provide to local businesses during the flood season, though both admit to not being completely knowledgeable on the subject.
“I’m not a hydrologist, but I know what water looks like when it’s 2 feet deep in your house. And so, I believe that the dam is probably the right answer — probably not the best answer — but it’s the right answer because we can’t afford the best answer,” Rider said, praising the work of the Chehalis Basin Strategy board.
