After moving to Vancouver in 2006 to take a job with the local Rotary Club, Temple Lentz said she took to the town immediately. She said it reminded her of the small town in Ohio where she grew up.
“One thing I really like about Vancouver and Clark County is that if you want to get involved, you can,” said Lentz. “If you find a project and stick to it and make things happen, this is a community that will support you.”
Now, Lentz, 43, is hoping that her resume of community involvement will land her a seat on the Clark County Council, where she said she will seek to develop a direction for the county outside of the shadow of Seattle and Portland.
She’s squaring off with Republican County Councilor Jeanne Stewart, a seasoned politician. But Stewart now faces reelection in an urban and Democratic-leaning district as a result of the passage of the county’s home rule charter. Lentz, a Democrat, has run an energetic campaign, racking up endorsements and raising $54,936, more than any other candidate for county council (including candidates for the at-large chair position). Stewart has raised $10,387.
Lentz emerged from the top-two August primary in first place with 33.72 percent of the vote. Former Democratic state Rep. Jim Moeller finished third with 31.77 percent of the vote and has endorsed Lentz. Stewart finished second with 33.11 percent of the vote.
Stewart, 71, refused multiple requests for an interview, citing constraints on her time. While serving on the county commission, and later county council, she’s shown an independent streak. She’s previously said that she’s confident her record will keep her seat.
Moving forward
Since moving to Clark County, Lentz has immersed herself in civic life. She was a founding member of Arts of Clark County. She also served on the boards of KXRW-FM and the Rose Village Neighborhood Association. Previously, she wrote a satirical blog called the “Daily Couve.”
Currently, she works as business director for the Heather DeFord Group at Cascade Sotheby’s International Realty and is a partner in local marketing firm High Five Media. She’s also on the boards of Friends of the Columbia Gorge and the Hough Foundation. She serves as the chair of the Clark County Commission on Aging and hosts local talk show “Hello Vancouver!”
Her forays into electoral politics include running Tim Leavitt’s 2009 campaign for Vancouver mayor, unseating six-term incumbent Royce Pollard. More recently, she was elected in 2013 to the Clark County Board of Freeholders, a group of residents charged with writing a county home rule charter that was approved by voters the next year
“Being a freeholder and helping get it passed was the first really strong sense I got that the community was ready to move forward and start with its own identity,” said Lentz.
The charter changed the county’s three-member commission, which had administrative powers, to a five-member council that solely makes policy. She said that the commission form of government was too reactive and prone to getting caught up in day-to-day county operations. She said the council, free from administrative duties, is in a better position to listen to residents and pursue more big-picture goals. But she said it’s been slow to take on this role.
For instance, she pointed to how late the county has been in pursuing a Complete Streets ordinance, which aims to make road infrastructure friendlier to bikes and pedestrians. Other jurisdictions have adopted similar measures earlier that made them eligible for state funding.
She said that the county should take a more proactive approach to planning, seeking a “collective vision” for how the county grows. She said the county should rethink density and how to serve the county’s aging population and people without vehicles.
She said she wants to partner with Vancouver to address homelessness and affordable housing. She’s suggested floating a levy similar to Vancouver’s Proposition 1, which Lentz said didn’t go far enough. She also supports lifting the county’s prohibition on recreational marijuana businesses in the unincorporated areas.
“I think she’s wonderful; I think she’s a breath of fresh air,” said David Nierenberg, a prominent local Republican political donor who gave Lentz’s campaign $2,000, despite her politics being more liberal than his. He added that Stewart is a “fine person and a fine public servant.”
A thorough person
Stewart has been a longtime resident of Clark County and previously served on the Vancouver City Council from 2001 to 2013.
In 2014, Stewart narrowly beat former Democratic state Sen. Craig Pridemore for a seat on the then county commission on a county-wide vote. She joined fellow Republican Commissioners Tom Mielke and David Madore (who have since left office), but would draw praise and criticism for pushing back on them.
“I consider myself a conservative,” said Stewart in November 2017 Clark County Focus interview. “Virtually, a born conservative.”
She added, “When people can’t conduct themselves civilly, and they want to call themselves a Republican, it doesn’t make me want to associate with that title.”
While on the commission, she proposed paying down the county’s debt over cutting taxes. She cast the only “no” vote on a proposal to cut funding for Community Planning and stood up for county employees during feuds with Madore and Mielke. She criticized their controversial fee waiver program and was the only commissioner to vote against having “In God We Trust” placed in the county’s hearing room.
Since the charter was passed, Stewart found herself representing District 1, which encompasses much of west Vancouver. She opposed the charter and continued to criticize it for making councilors more focused on their districts. She’s said that she gets phone calls from constituents seeking help with a problem but said their problem is often in the city’s jurisdiction. She’s also complained about how the city of Vancouver’s annexation plans has deprived the county of needed revenue.
The county is currently in the process of implementing a change to state law that allows for industrial development along the Chelatchie Prairie Railroad. Although much of the development is expected to occur in the Brush Prairie area, far from west Vancouver, Stewart noted during a council meeting that there is “nothing that happens on this railroad that does not come through my district.”
“I’m really interested in what’s in those cars and what’s being shipped, because it goes through a lot of residential areas as it moves to the east and north,” she said.
In 2016 and 2017, Stewart voted to increase the total property tax levy by 1 percent to fund county government. She’s been strongly opposed to lifting the county’s prohibition on recreational marijuana businesses.
Although the county council is comprised entirely of Republicans (except Boldt), Stewart has sometimes cast the only “no” vote.
In September, Stewart cast the only “no” vote against a resolution calling for the replacement of the Interstate 5 Bridge, despite having negotiated changes to an earlier version of the measure. Stewart has been supportive of a third crossing across the Columbia River.
In January, Stewart voted against an ordinance intended to make it easier to build accessory-dwelling units, small additions to existing houses that have been presented as a way to provide more affordable housing. She said she was worried about the removal of an owner-occupancy requirement that could be “destabilizing” for neighborhoods.
“She’s a very thorough person,” said county council Chair Marc Boldt, no party preference. “Which drives me nuts sometimes.”
