Businesses query commissioner candidates

The lack of affordable housing and its effects on families and businesses and the mental health crisis were at the heart of the conversation at Wednesday’s candidate forum that featured contenders for the Board of Island County Commissioners’ District 1 and 2 seats.

The event was hosted by the Clinton, Freeland and Langley Chambers of Commerce at the Useless Bay Golf & Country Club on South Whidbey and was attended by business owners, members of local organizations and some concerned constituents.

Democrat Christina Elliott faces Republican Jill Johnson, the incumbent District 2 Commissioner. Democrat Melanie Bacon represents District 1 and is also seeking reelection, facing Democrat Marie Shimada and Damian Greene, a Republican who announced after the primary election that he is running as a write-in candidate.

Greene said he was not invited to the event.

All four women, whose names are on the ballot, said they are familiar with the struggles faced by businesses. Johnson used to be the executive director of the Oak Harbor Chamber of Commerce; Elliott is a corporate lawyer who founded a legal startup technology company; Bacon owned a bookstore and a sign company; Shimada works in the restaurant industry and co-founded the Agricultural Resources Committee of Island County.

Elliott and Shimada talked about the struggles millennials like themselves face in today’s economy.

Elliott moved to Oak Harbor with her husband, a Navy sailor, in 2022. She believes the lack of affordable childcare is preventing young parents from contributing to the workforce, an issue she said could be alleviated with subsidies.

With the rising cost of living that forces many young parents and workers to juggle two or more jobs in order to pay for a roof over their heads, Shimada has had many conversations with fellow millennials about where they would go if they can no longer afford to live on Whidbey Island.

An audience member from the same generation asked the commissioners what they believed the median household income should be for a young family to afford living on South Whidbey.

Bacon and Shimada, who are competing to represent the area of Whidbey south of the greater Oak Harbor area, gave two different responses. Bacon said $70,000. Shimada, on the other hand, believes it’s “well into six figures.”

After revealing she suffered a miscarriage earlier this year, Shimada said the medical bills caused her to max out her credit card, despite making over $70,000, without including her partner’s income.

When another millennial attendee asked the two incumbents what has been done to address the housing crisis and lamented her generation has felt unheard, Johnson said housing is an issue they are working on, though they don’t have the power to change the economy or get the state or federal governments to hear smaller, local governments.

Bacon pointed out that the board of commissioners passed a sales tax to fund affordable housing projects a few years ago. For every $100 spent, she said, 10 cents goes towards cheaper housing.

The county also spent $9 million in pandemic impact funds to purchase land to build 160 affordable units in Oak Harbor, currently under construction. The Goosefoot Community Fund, a local nonprofit, also received funds for their own housing project, Bacon said.

With over 300 short-term rental units on the South End listed on Airbnb, according to one of the questioners, there is growing concern of long-term housing becoming harder to secure for local workers.

Due to the lack of places to house the local workforce, businesses are struggling to retain staff. Shimada said the issue particularly affects younger workers. If they all leave, she said, the remaining residents will be left not only without restaurant workers, but also builders, nurses and teachers, with “devastating” effects on the local economy.

Johnson agreed, but added that it’s “naive” and “entitled” of some generations to assume they can retire on a beautiful place like Whidbey when there are no people to take care of them once they can no longer do that on their own. There is a disconnect between the lifestyle people want and what it takes to live on Whidbey, she said, and she fears for the economy.

Bacon said the commissioners are already addressing the vacation rental problem in the Comprehensive Plan Update by looking at such solutions as controls on short-term rentals. She mentioned the possibility of issuing licenses for maximum and minimum rental periods.

Elliott referenced a recent New York Times story which shows that Island County has the ninth biggest luxury second-home market in the U.S.

When asked if she would support measures to create long-term housing, Elliott suggested the use of lotteries for short-term rental licenses, a solution adopted in various counties around the nation in an effort to prevent “ghost towns” from forming due to second-home owners “claiming” local communities, she said.

Shimada’s approach would instead be incentivizing the transition from short-term rentals to long-term rentals, cautioning that over-penalizing vacation rentals might have negative impacts on locals who host tourists to supplement their mortgage payments. This concern was also echoed by Bacon and Johnson — who is a firm believer that commissioners should be flexible rather than over regulatory.

Another issue affecting housing and staffing is infrastructure like septic and sewage systems, Bacon said, which is again being addressed in the comprehensive plan. Johnson agreed, adding that it’s important to look at what septic and sewer systems are appropriate to develop and accommodate growth in the right areas.

Johnson also said there are few hotels on South Whidbey because there isn’t the needed sewerage in place. To accommodate visitors and have a robust tourist economy in the absence of more sewage systems and hotels, there needs to be enough working vacation rentals.

Bacon said the state has allocated funds for the county to conduct a study to identify new sewer technologies. While the state is strict on which sewer systems it allows, communities can use their findings to ask for that to change. Shimada said she was grateful for the work the board of commissioners put into this.

Elliott, who is against sprawl, said she would like to support the improvement of multi-modal transportation to allow people to efficiently travel to and work on the South End while living in Oak Harbor, where she believes higher-density housing areas should be focused to preserve Whidbey’s rural character.

Johnson, on the other hand, believes that in order to have a thriving economy people have to be willing to sacrifice some of the rural character of the island to bring more development and economic vitality.

Another way Elliott wants to tackle the challenges faced by local businesses is the B&O tax, which she said is particularly “regressive” in the state. She wants to lobby state lawmakers to make some exceptions based on the business type to alleviate some of the burden.

When asked about the lack of mental health services in the county and ways to address crises without placing a burden on law enforcement, Elliott said the county could do more to support local organizations that address mental health, especially those whose federal funding was cut.

Housing insecurity is a stressor that can lead to poor mental health and substance abuse. In the end, Elliot said, it all comes back to housing affordability.

Bacon — who chairs the Board of Health — said it’s another issue being addressed in the Comprehensive Plan Update and wants to limit law enforcement’s role in dealing with people in mental health crises. Currently, she said, the county is trying to secure the funds to increase children’s access to case management.

“The most painful thing that we deal with as county commissioners is the health of our kids,” she said.

Shimada believes there should be a conversation with law enforcement to understand what would help them better respond to situations involving a person’s mental health, as well as partnering with school districts and organizations that provide mental health services to find resources and funding.

Johnson said the county, under her initiative, has led a statewide effort to tell the legislature that the level of service established in the contracts with insurers is insufficient and needs to be improved.

Still, she said, children and minors in a mental crisis cannot be forced into treatment, so some mental health programs might not get the needed funding until those children are legally forced into them.

Over the past year, many food business owners have complained about the food inspector who, many lamented, would threaten to shut down a restaurant over matters such as the location of a sink.

Bacon said she is aware of the frustrations of restaurant owners. Food safety, she said, is a bigger issue than a sink needing to be moved. Johnson said the county has been dealing with the concerns regarding the tone and approach and is giving the inspector a second chance to retain staff and “salvage their career.”

Shimada criticized the county for being overly-strict with prospective business owners, saying it feels like the government doesn’t want to see businesses succeed. Last week, she said, she co-convened a meeting with 25 business owners who said they lived in fear of retribution from the government, to which Johnson replied by saying the county has been dealing with staffing issues privately.

When asked about their level of involvement with the business community, Shimada and Elliott said they plan to be as involved as possible, attending events and listening to ideas and concerns.

On multiple occasions throughout the forum, Shimada emphasized the importance of developing partnerships and involving community members in the problem-solving process. Elliott said she would like to host events where she can bring together diverse business voices to help teach people skills and opportunities, especially around artificial intelligence, and is particularly interested in hearing from women-owned businesses offering niche products and services.

Bacon urged business owners and constituents to stay informed, be more involved and provide their input. She has a listening session every week at the Crabby Coffee in Freeland and at the Cedar and Salt Coffee House in Coupeville where she listens to community members. She also has a weekly newsletter detailing what the county is up to.

While she wants to make time for those who want to talk about a concern, Johnson said she won’t be able to attend every event and chamber meeting because commissioners work full-time.

“Here’s the reality of being a county commissioner: you are not the community outreach liaison,” she said.