Baker selected to fill Council No. 2 spot

Following the resignation of former Councilmember Kermit Chamberlin on April 21, the Town held the door open for several weeks to applicants wishing to fill the No. 2 position for the remainder of Chamberlin's term. Between the May 5 and June 2 sessions of Town Council, the applicants went from two to four: Tyson Clark, Randall Vogt, Crystal Baker, and Isha Snow.

The four applicants filled out questionnaires, which were shared in the June 2 meeting's packet. When asked on the questionnaire what was his "vision for our town and community," Clark responded, "My vision for the Town and community is prosperity, maintaining existing assets and services and focusing on strong local relationships to help encourage reasonable economic growth so Cathlamet remains a place for our children and theirs; to provide a rekindled sense of hometown pride."

When asked in the questionnaire what his "three highest priorities and/or issues" he believes the Town needs to address, Vogt responded, "To improve infrastructure without blowing up the budget, to seek available grants for specific projects, and to make the Town more of a tourist destination."

When asked the same question, Snow responded, "I'd like to explore sustainable development grants to find affordable solutions for reopening the Community Center as a full-time resource for the Town like it was pre-Covid. We need more places for the youth to safely occupy, and I would also like to address a need for expanding and adding to our youth and family enrichment programs. I am currently working to build partnerships with non profits, the schools, and community members. I would also like to develop and expand mutual aid networks to help address food insecurity."

During Monday's meeting, the applicants were asked to give opening and, should they choose, closing statements, in addition to answering prepared and drafted questions by each council member. After the four had answered their questions, Mayor David Olson said, "Thank you for stepping forward and being willing to step up and serve your community in this way. We deeply appreciate it." Council then went into a brief, 15-minute executive session to make its decision. Following the executive session, Council selected Baker to fill Chamberlin's No. 2 spot and, subsequently, swore her in to her new assignment.

Baker, who moved to the area in 2020, admitted she likes to be involved in Town Council meetings, as well as "pretty much anything that she has been to to help communicate with other people in the community to get more people involved."

When asked by Councilmember Robert Stowe to "find one positive and one negative" about the Town and to "enhance the positive and remedy the negative," Baker said, "We have a community of some of the most passionate council people I have ever met. In all of my travels all over the world, this town is very unique. We have people who want to be involved. We have people who jump on opportunity if they know they're there. We have people who want to understand what is going on with the town, and that is a huge positive...The negative is we are tight knit. We should be able to know everything that is going on because we're right down the street. I can't tell you how many times I've run into all of you guys just going out to get coffee or breakfast or walking my dog...We have a unique case where we can communicate and get that information out. Right now, I think that is the biggest thing and has caused the most frustration for the town's people is that the information isn't there....Having that information removes the mind wandering."

Baker also noted the Town should be taking advantage of its access to social media. "Our community has a very strong social media presence, and that's where most people get their information, so why let there be random questions and or inaccurate information put out there when we have just as much capability to put the information out accurately and let people discuss it," she said.

Councilmember Joe Baker (no relation) pointed out social media outlets like Facebook aren't "a good way to communicate the truth." In response to the council member, Baker said, "You cannot stop anybody from saying anything they want to say. The only thing you can do is put your information out there, and it doesn't have to be just from the Council. You can have office staff put the information out."

Following with his own selected question, Councilmember Baker asked the applicant, "When serving on the Town Council, can you describe the best way to handle conflict with a fellow councilmember as well as with an irate citizen?" Responding to the council member's question, Baker said, "The most important thing is understanding what they're trying to say. A lot of times, a lot of arguments are one person saying something and while they're talking, you're mentally figuring out 'How am I going to respond,' or you're getting emotional thinking about your side, trying to figure out how you're going to phrase it, but you miss what the other person is saying. But, when you slow down and you let somebody explain their side and you make sure that you understand where they're coming from before you try to come up with your answer and then you try to find a middle ground with it to ease the tension."

Councilmember Jeanne Hendrickson then asked Baker to name three qualities of a council member. In response, Baker said, "You have to be able to read the information, comprehend the information, to be able to understand what you're voting on. You should have to have good morals obviously. You definitely do not want to vote on something that you know benefits you but hurts others knowing that you want it. Moral values are very important; doing things that benefit the town as a whole and not small groups like friends, family or any of those things. You have to be somebody approachable. You have to be somebody people in the community can come to because they do want to be able to get their voice heard and council members are the representation of the people's vote for them, so they should be able to come to you."

Councilmember Laurel Waller then asked Baker to discern between the role of mayor and the role of a council member. "The council is the one who is going to decide and make all of the major decisions that aren't an automatic thing that the mayor can decide," said Baker. "You guys make the decisions that you feel are the best for the town and the mayor is going to staff and making sure that they are implementing what you guys are proposing."

Considering "in town versus out of town" residents and their relationship to Cathlamet, Baker said, "I think that a lot of the views that people have on the outside - Puget Island or Skamokawa or any of the surrounding areas - is because they utilize our town. All of those things are a big part of their life that if you were to remove the boundaries, they would all consider themselves part of Cathlamet. Things that we do drastically impact everybody. If we closed the pool or the library, everybody in the county would be concerned with that."

Recognizing these entities are funded by people living in the community and everything in the community that is funded by the people is "their problem," Baker said, "We can't let somebody else who doesn't pay for it make a decision on it." Baker then suggested the possibility of those outside the town "participating financially."

Considering Cathlamet is where she "came to retire," Baker closed her case for Council selection by stating, "I care a lot about this town."