Woodland Mayor Will Finn will have competition for the first time to retain his position this year.
During a League of Women Voters of Clark County forum July 12, Finn answered questions alongside challenger Todd Dinehart about city issues. The third candidate for the race, Janna Lovejoy, was not present for the forum.
Since first coming into office in 2016, Finn believes the city has done a good job in putting the city’s growth on a positive trajectory. He ran unopposed in 2015 to get into the position and again faced no challenger in 2019 to retain the seat for another four years.
With a background in communications through his day job as a public information officer for the Washington State Patrol, Finn said he has built good relationships with state elected officials. He wants to continue planning for the city’s future, “and get us out of the bubble that we’ve been in for decades,” he said.
Dinehart said that any “bubble” the city has been in continued during the eight years of Finn’s leadership. He said his three decades of accounting experience would bring transparency to city finances.
“It’s one thing for us to say that we have a balanced budget, but it’s another thing for our citizens to know what those dollars are being spent on and how they are being collected,” Dinehart said.
He also wants to increase the public’s trust in city government.
“Right now a lot of citizens are struggling with the trust of our city, and I will bring that ability to them,” Dinehart said.
The city’s water and sewer utilities are another concern for Dinehart. He mentioned Woodland’s need for a new water reservoir, which has seen its price tag rise to an expected $5 million while utility rates for citizens have seen significant increases in recent years.
“We need to have accountability … and transparency for our citizens to understand that,” Dinehart said.
Finn said utility issues are a major driver of why he decided to first run for office eight years ago. He said Woodland has “righted the wrongs” of the city’s internal billing system, having now outsourced billing to Minol, an outside company.
Housing and recreation
On housing, Dinehart believes the city has plenty of multifamily units. For the single-family developments, he wants to see larger lot sizes than what are currently being built.
“You still get the tax base for the city,” Dinehart said. “At the same time though, you do not have as many cars on the road … building up the transportation issues and infrastructure issues.”
Finn said there hasn’t been much residential growth in the city in the last few years. He said the multifamily units that exist are geared toward families that qualify for low-income housing.
“My own daughter has actually had to leave town because there is not enough multifamily housing for someone starting out on their own,” Finn said.
He said there are a number of projects on the books that have shifted from multifamily to single-family developments.
“We (have) always have been a family-based community, and unfortunately we are driving our own families out with nowhere for them to come back to,” Finn said.
For recreational opportunities in the city, Finn pointed to Scott Hill Park, a sports complex project by the Woodland Rotary Club that is currently nearing the end of its first phase of development.
He also mentioned plans for a splash pad at Horseshoe Lake Park. Alongside a land donation of property near the existing park, the city has also received $82,000 for the project, Finn said.
Dinehart agreed those recreational opportunities were good for the city. He said Woodland needs to look into long-term sustainability of the projects, specifically for Scott Hill Park.
“We need to start a foundation, do something that (gives) it long-term sustainability and doesn’t put a burden on the taxpayers,” Dinehart said.
Transportation
and growth
Both candidates talked about the importance of improving the city’s southern connection with Interstate 5 at Exit 21. Outside of that exit, Finn said funding the city’s other transportation projects is the biggest challenge.
The issue is somewhat alleviated by a 0.1% sales tax increase the city passed last year, which puts money to work in the city’s transportation plan. Finn favored the sales tax route as opposed to increasing vehicle registration fees. He said the city supports about double the population outside of city limits compared to within. Those outside users wouldn’t pay into a registration fee increase.
“It’s hard for us to fund that (work) when we’re putting it on the backs of so few,” Finn said.
Dinehart said Woodland needs to work with the state on improvements to state Route 503.
“We have schools that are on that road. We have churches, we have housing that are along there,” Dinehart said.
Dinehart doesn’t believe residential growth should be the first priority for Woodland when issues like transportation exist.
“We don’t need to look and say, ‘hHow do we grow and get more housing and more residents here?’ We need to figure out how to take care of the residents and the community that we have,” Dinehart said.
He said family-wage jobs to keep residents working in Woodland are of greater importance.
Finn said Woodland’s growth is a balancing act that couldn’t exclude one type of development in favor of another. Woodland’s reality as a city under Growth Management Act planning in a county that doesn’t plan that way creates its own host of problems.
“We are working on that,” Finn said.
He said a recent planning agreement between the city and county will help for long-term planning on land just outside of city limits.
Dinehart said the fact that the city and county need an agreement to “play nice in the sandbox” indicated their relationship was not as cordial as he said Finn was portraying.
“I think it comes back to … having a working relationship built on trust and accountability,” Dinehart said.
On public safety, Finn said the Woodland Police Department often serves as a “training ground” for new officers, with recruits not sticking around for long tenures.
“They come in, we pay to train them, we hope they stay with us for three years, and they move on,” Finn said.
Although the city pays officers a comfortable wage, he wishes there was more in the city budget for greater compensation.
The department has seen growth alongside the city, adding three positions during Finn’s mayoral tenure, he said. He hopes to see an additional officer added in the next budget cycle.
Dinehart noted the expansion of the department is a result of a police levy. Voters passed the measure by a single vote, 691 to 690, in 2019.
DInehart believes the turnover at the department is due to the city’s administration.
“I think it comes back to leadership and getting that trust within our own police department,” Dinehart said.
Finn, Dinehart and Lovejoy will face off in the August primary election, with the top-two candidates moving onto the November general election. The deadline to submit primary ballots is 8 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 1.
