With election day less than three weeks away, candidates vying for various offices around Lewis County are making their final campaign pitches.
The Chronicle sat down with Russell Barr and Chris Brewer, who are facing off on Nov. 7 for Centralia City Council position 1 at-large, to talk about the issues currently facing Centralia and what they hope to accomplish if elected to the council.
Barr, 60, has lived in Centralia since 1989 and currently works as a software engineer for Tyler Technologies, making computer programs for local governments and municipalities to use.
Because of his profession, he said he’s familiar with many issues local governments face as well as how technology can help solve them. Barr also spent some time as a part of the Centralia School District, where his children attended school.
Brewer, 39, has moved around a bit but has lived in Centralia for the better part of the past decade. He currently works for Lewis County in the IT department and is on the board of the Lewis County Trails Association.
Before working for Lewis County, Brewer was a reporter for The Chronicle. He is a U.S. Air Force veteran who worked in broadcasting for the Armed Forces Network.
Homelessness and the housing crisis
When it comes to the uptick in people experiencing homelessness, Barr believes there is only so much local governments can do.
“We can work toward addressing the issues of the majority of homeless, but not all of them. Some will fall through the cracks, not that I don’t have sympathy,” Barr said.
While he believes the city can still do more to help, he also feels the Washington state government should be doing more to aid city governments.
Many experiencing homelessness are often fighting addictions or dealing with mental illnesses, he noted. Though the city has been working with Lewis County to help build a new shelter, he said he feels it’s not going to be enough to fully address the issue.
“The state gave up a lot of responsibility in the 80s and 90s … There used to be state-supported facilities for people to go, and now there aren’t,” Barr said. “We can’t solve it locally, and we’re already doing a lot.”
He wants to work more with lawmakers at both the state and federal level to help formulate local solutions.
Barr said homelessness has been an issue that has always existed in larger cities, but it’s finally making its way to smaller communities such as Centralia. Barr said the housing crisis is affecting more than just people already experiencing homelessness.
“It’s making more people homeless and we’re in a housing bubble right now … Everybody is getting screwed on housing,” Barr added.
Brewer believes whatever is done to help address homelessness and related issues needs to happen fast.
“People are of the mind that they just want to see something done, whether it be getting people help or whatever,” Brewer said.
He agreed homelessness has been a long-standing issue in the U.S. and it has been getting a lot worse. Brewer currently supports the Centralia Housing Assessment and Action Plan (CHAAP) the council created earlier this year.
“The way it appears to me, it’s going make it easier for people to develop housing that is much needed in our community,” Brewer said. “That’s what I would hope to lend my voice to, to make it easier for housing to be built here and develop sustainably and responsibly while at the same time increasing our housing inventory.”
It’s not just a lack of housing driving up the number of people experiencing homelessness, he said, as inflation is also making housing unaffordable for some.
“A family who was OK 10 years ago and could afford something with a 3% interest rate and maybe putting 10% to 15% down, prices are well out of reach for a lot of those folks these days,” Brewer said.
He worries inflation is going to raise the cost of living to the point where it will drive out a lot of long-time residents who still rent and have been on the precipice of purchasing a home.
Crime and policing in Centralia
As for crime, it’s actually been trending down over the last year, according to statistics from the Centralia Police Department.
Even with a recent decline, Barr said he still wants to do whatever he can on the council to help make it easier for the police to do their jobs. Currently, state law restricts police from stopping people unless they have probable cause, while before a series of state law enforcement reforms, officers needed only reasonable suspicion.
“That makes them less able to intervene,” Barr said.
He isn’t sure if any city ordinance could help address this issue, but he said he wants to try whatever he can to loosen state-level policing restrictions. He is also in favor of raising the police department’s budget.
“I think there’s room for more enforcement. People are going to have their stories of difficulties with the police, but I see them are trying to do a good job, and the job of the council is to support that,” Barr said.
When it comes to Brewer’s views, he initially was opposed to the new Flock Safety cameras the city purchased earlier this year, but now he supports the acquisition.
“I had thoughts and concerns about surveilling people who aren’t committing crimes to catch those who are, but the way it was described to me is that the Flock Safety cameras are a force multiplier,” Brewer said.
He’s still wary of surveillance, but with state restrictions on policing, he is in favor of using any tools the city can to deter crime. Brewer also wants to ensure the police department stays fully staffed and funded.
“I want to keep conversations going with the police department and with people who see or are affected by crime going on to see what we can do and what some of their ideas are,” Brewer said. “To kind of be a liaison between the citizens and police to see what we can do.”
Final thoughts
Whatever the future holds for Centralia, Barr believes the city will look much different than it does now.
“Change and progress are washing over Centralia like a huge wave,” Barr said. “We’re in the midst of a huge amount of change. We’ve got WinCo coming, and all of a sudden this is a great place to live and rent is rising.”
While he acknowledges there is no stopping the change, he wants to “pump the brakes” and make sure the city is considering long-term outcomes whenever implementing any sort of change. For example, while he is happy WinCo is coming, he is worried about traffic and a potential uptick in crime in the area.
If elected, he vows to ensure the council is always considering the long-term effects of any decision, especially when it comes to infrastructure, to help mitigate growing pains for city residents.
As for Brewer’s final words, he concurred with Barr about growth in the city, especially when it comes to infrastructure.
“I talked to a couple current sitting city councilors who were running four years ago, and they said the biggest issue was infrastructure and potholes four years ago,” Brewer said. “There’s a lot of people still concerned about it now.”
Many voters he’s talked to have said they want to see the city fix existing infrastructure before building more new structures. He is in favor of the Hub City Greenways proposal, which will establish a trail system throughout Centralia to make it more walkable and bikeable over the course of 20 years.
Brewer views serving on the council as the highest form of volunteerism and if elected hopes to serve and “bless” his community.
He believes if he is elected to the council, he will be a person who can get things done.
Learn more about local elections at https://elections.lewiscountywa.gov/.