Ballots for the 2017 general election have arrived in Wahkiakum County mail boxes. Reporter Diana Zimmerman has written the following profiles for most of the candidates for local office. Photos and stories by Diana Zimmerman.

In August 2015, Scott Anderson and two other candidates interviewed for a spot on the Port 1 commission vacated by Larry Bonds. Anderson won the appointment, and this November, he's on the ballot for the first time, hoping to retain the position.

Anderson is a Wahkiakum High School graduate. He attended Lower Columbia College for one year. He has owned Anderson Shake and Shingle for 42 years.

He is a member of the Washington Association of Business and the Cedar Shake and Shingle Bureau, which he describes as a multinational nonprofit trade organization. He has been an elected member of the board of directors for the Cedar Shake and Shingle Bureau since 2001.

Locally he has been involved in the Wahkiakum County Planning Commission, the Wahkiakum County Chapter of the Marine Resource Committee, and a member of the Wahkiakum High School Technology and Agricultural Advisory Board

"The port is a business," Anderson said. "With my business background, I believe I have the skill set to help the port move forward as a business. The filling of the sewer lagoons with dredge spoils is the main reason I wanted to be on the port when I became a commissioner a few years ago. This is a unique opportunity to benefit the City of Cathlamet, the port, and the rest of the citizens of Wahkiakum County.

"The port has put in a new business work dock in conjunction with the Marine Resource Committee," Anderson continued. "The port has equipped the dredge and work boat for the coming dredging season. There has been repair work on the boat ramp, a new sewer dump system for trailers, and we're currently working on kayak access, to list a few of the many things the port has accomplished while I've been there."

"So far my time there has been very rewarding," Anderson said. "The only thing I really want to accomplish while I'm at the port is to make it a more diversified port, that serves the wants and needs of the community."