The last batch of candidate forums hosted by the League of Women Voters of Clark County have concluded, with Battle Ground City Council and Clark-Cowlitz Fire Rescue candidates taking part to answer questions about the state of their respective governments.
The Oct. 5 forum featured only two of the six races scheduled to take place at CCFR’s Dollar’s Corner station. Additional Battle Ground City Council races, as well as a Battle Ground Public Schools board director race and one for Clark County Fire District 13 commissioner were scheduled but ultimately canceled.
Battle Ground City Council
One of the longest-serving members of Battle Ground City Council, Shane Bowman has a challenger in Josh VanGelder this election.
Having served on the council since 2012, Bowman believes a historical perspective on what the city has accomplished in past years is important. He noted, two years ago, two new seatholders joined the council, and this year could feature as many as three new faces.
“I think having someone that has experience and understands the challenges we face in the city of Battle Ground is key,” Bowman said.
VanGelder said being a fresh face to the council would benefit him should he be elected. He said he would have a close connection with the community, “being able to represent people on a personal level,” while hearing their needs and protecting their rights.
On traffic, VanGelder said the city should focus on improving roads surrounding the highways and encourage traffic circulation on streets outside of the current thoroughfares.
Bowman said the city could see a decline in traffic once the final stages of the work on the Main Street intersection with state Route 503 are complete. He remembers starting the lobbying for that project with the council 11 years ago.
“The biggest issue you have is funding,” Bowman said.
Because the city can’t raise taxes over and over, Battle Ground needs to look at funding from state and federal means through lobbying, he said.
As with much of north Clark County, Battle Ground’s growth is an inevitability, the candidates acknowledged.
“I know people would like it to be Battle Ground 20 years ago, but it’s not going to happen,” Bowman said.
With the upcoming update to the county’s comprehensive growth management plan, Bowman expects geographic growth for the city to move west along state Route 502. The existing land yet to be developed also includes wetlands, which makes development more costly, he said.
VanGelder wanted the city to continue to allow for single-family properties — “not just lumping everyone together into apartments” — while keeping industrial land available to provide living-wage jobs.
“That’s really the difficult part of this: How can we have space for people to live but also space for people to work,” VanGelder said.
The city faces a number of other issues including infrastructure needs and generally increasing public involvement. In terms of getting the public involved with city business, Bowman said it was easy: “You just say you’re going to annex stuff and then people will show up.”
Without a hot-button issue, he said it is tough getting people involved. Bowman said the seven-member council can play to their different circles of interaction to get the word out about important matters at the city.
VanGelder also acknowledged the struggle to involve people who would rather be passive in the process.
“They want to just sit at home and then complain when something happens, but they don’t want to be involved in the process that got us there,” VanGelder said.
He entertained having forums outside of election season where residents have a chance to voice their concerns to councilors.
Clark-Cowlitz Fire Rescue
For the one competitive seat up for election in the Clark-Cowlitz Fire Rescue race, incumbent Jade Bourke faces a challenger in Brigid Taylor.
A U.S. Army veteran with experience as a volunteer firefighter, Bourke was appointed to the position last year following the death of longtime commissioner Bob Johnson. Taylor, a 23-year teacher in Clark County, said she’s had experience in passing ballot measures for school and fire districts.
On incident response times, Taylor said the district was able to cut those times in half for the area around the Clark County Fairgrounds station after it began around-the-clock service Sept. 1. The station is jointly operated by CCFR and Clark County Fire District 6.
Both Taylor and Bourke agreed that a response time approaching five minutes is ideal. Bourke said, in some of the areas further from stations, those times are closer to 13 minutes.
“To cut those times down, you have to add headcount, and you have to add stations,” Bourke said, adding both of those aspects need the revenue to support them, which requires a balancing act on how much taxes the district should pursue.
Another resource the district needs is a public information officer, Bourke said. That position’s job would handle outreach efforts to inform residents, which can be challenging for a fire district.
“It is a struggle that we need to work on,” Bourke said.
Taylor said beefing up the district’s social media presence would help get the information out.
On district financing in the future, Taylor said CCFR was “in a new era” of looking for revenue that goes beyond the usual method of raising the property tax levy every few years. She said working with state lawmakers and firefighter unions for a solution will be important to commissioners.
“I think it’s going to take all of us collectively together to get that done,” Taylor said.
Bourke noted the district’s operating income is dependent on the property tax levy.
“We’ve been lucky enough to find other avenues with grants and things like that, but they’re small,” Bourke said.
The district’s capital facilities plan is key to handling growth in its boundaries, Bourke said. Fleshing out that plan will require working with cities and Clark County to find the best locations for new stations, she said.
Apart from stations and vehicles, protective equipment for firefighters is another major expense for the district. With 29 firefighters hired this year, Bourke said he’s seen the price tag rise a lot.
“We do a fantastic job, I would say, on keeping our employees, line firefighters, up to date with the current, best gear that we can,” Bourke said.
Taylor said firefighter gear that helps prevent long-term illnesses like cancer is an important aspect of the outfitting. She noted the district firefighters also cover wildfires when they reach the area, adding wellness screenings are another way to protect them.
