There was standing room only at the Ridgefield Community Center as the candidates for two Clark County council positions and the Battle Ground School Board faced off.
The League of Women Voters kicked off the first of two forums Wednesday night. About 80 people attended, crowding the small meeting hall.
Job- and relationship-building dominated the conversation for both the Clark County council chair and District 2 races.
Democrats Chuck Green and Mike Pond, Republicans Julie Olson and Mary Benton, and Tanner Martin, no party affiliation, are running to represent the newly created District 2. Benton did not attend the forum.
Olson in her closing statement emphasized the importance of working to promote positive relationships within the current county council, saying she would set aside recent controversies to work effectively with the sitting councilors.
“There are a lot of bright areas in the county,” she said.
When asked what challenges District 2 faces, Green said he would work to expand the Discovery Corridor, a stretch of Interstate 5 north of Vancouver that has been identified as a key area for job growth in the region.
“We need to partner with the cities and the (Columbia River Economic Development Council) to better bring jobs into the Discovery Corridor,” Green said.
Pond, responding to a question about giving constituents a voice, said he will host regular town hall meetings and use technology to better connect with District 2 residents.
“A lot of folks come out (to meetings) and there’s not a lot of response, not a lot of follow-through,” he said.
Martin agreed with Pond, though with the joking caveat that, as a single father, his children will likely come along for any constituent meetings.
Current Councilors David Madore, Tom Mielke and Jeanne Stewart, all Republicans, are running for the county chair seat, along with former county commissioner Marc Boldt, no party affiliation, and Democrat Mike Dalesandro.
Stewart, when asked what qualities make an effective chair, said “being chair is going to take a broad spectrum of successful skills,” which she said she has thanks to her experience on the Vancouver City Council and numerous other boards.
“Understanding in a holistic sense how it’s all related, how it’s all integrated,” she said.
To the same question, Dalesandro said he will listen and collaborate with county staff, as well as the community.
“I’m about vision, not division,” he said.
When asked what his top priority was, Boldt said the council needs to “restore the trust” with cities and state and federal government.
Madore, meanwhile, said economic development is the top priority.
“We are doing everything we can to ensure that businesses that are fleeing from California and are fleeing from other areas can find the most competitive county and most welcoming county in the state,” he said.
Mielke agreed, saying Clark County is doing a “bang-up” job of building jobs.
All three school board candidates, Dick Rylander, Mavis Nickels, and Ben Kapelka, stressed the importance of providing for a growing student population in Battle Ground.
The Clark County chair candidates, as well as candidates in the Port of Vancouver commissioner District 2 and Vancouver City Council Position 5 races, will be at a second forum from 5:30 to 8 p.m. today at the Vancouver Community Library at 901 C St., Vancouver.
