Port of Bellingham candidates share what they see for Blaine, Birch Bay and Custer residents

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The Northern Light asked Port of Bellingham commissioner candidates to explain how they will incorporate the needs of Blaine, Birch Bay and Custer residents into economic development planning for Whatcom County. All county residents vote on Port of Bellingham candidates in the November general election, regardless of port commissioner districts. Candidates will serve four-year terms. Interviews have been edited for clarity and brevity.

Commissioner District 1

Michael Shepard

Michael Shepard is finishing his first term as Port of Bellingham commissioner. He is a former Democratic precinct committee officer, a faculty member in Western Washington University’s anthropology department and teaches online college courses for various colleges.

Why did you decide to run again for port commissioner?

Whatcom County is a great place to live, but it’s become a challenging place for many to afford and I wanted to work with the level of local government that most directly has a role in family wage job creation and economic development. The work I started my first term needs additional time and attention.

What are your top priorities for the Port of Bellingham?

My top priorities that I’ve worked on extensively are things like redevelopment of Bellingham’s waterfront district to make sure we build out amenities and opportunities for the public to enjoy.

I started a task force between the Public Utility District and the port to collaborate and make sure we’re working collectively to extend broadband internet to as much of our community as possible in the shortest amount of time. A third priority of mine is ensuring that, as we look at economic development, we are integrating environmental sustainability. One example is how this summer we helped bring an electric transit bus manufacturer to Ferndale.

What issues are most important to you for Blaine, Birch Bay and Custer residents?

My biggest issues for the northern part of our county include broadband. We’re currently working to obtain final funding and design for bringing broadband to the Custer area, in particular.

Another priority has been ensuring the Blaine Harbor is really meeting the needs of the community. When I started in office it was only about 65 percent capacity with boats and now we almost have the harbor at 100 percent capacity, which has increased the use, profitability and has ensured we continue to see our local businesses that utilize port resources grow.

Is there anything else you would like to add?

Through this current commission’s leadership, we’re working hard to protect our working waterfront to keep that job sector focused on retaining and promoting our marine trade businesses.

John Huntley

John Huntley is a first-time candidate who is owner, president and CEO of Mills Electric, a Bellingham-based electrical and instrumentation company that employs 150 people. Huntley is board chair of Whatcom Business Alliance and has served as PeaceHealth St. Joseph Medical Center Foundation board member.

Why did you decide to run for port commissioner?

I’ve lived in Whatcom County all my life and I’ve seen the different things that have been going on and I decided port commissioner would be a great place to try my talents on getting economic relief and family-wage jobs and help get the port going again.

We’re at the point now at the GP plant where we can do some things that will help Whatcom County and I wanted to be a part of that. I wanted to have the chance to do things at the Bellingham airport and really create jobs. I want to create family-wage jobs and I want to be a part of negotiations for work out on the Cherry Point area.

What are your top priorities for the Port of Bellingham?

My top priority is creating family-wage jobs. If we can do that, that will help affordable housing, which is a very large problem in Whatcom County. We also need wages that people can buy things with. I own a company that provides family-wage jobs and I’ve seen what they can accomplish and what a good family-wage job does for families.

What issues are most important to you for Blaine, Birch Bay and Custer residents?

I’d like to be a part of bringing broadband to these areas where it’s difficult for communications. I see the Blaine area doing more and more at the port of Blaine. In Ferndale, I’d definitely love to do something with that Alcoa plant, be a participant in getting those family-wage jobs back.

Is there anything else you would like to add?

I’m glad the commission is nonpartisan. I really want to work with everybody when it comes to creating jobs and housing. My goal is to bring the different councils in, the county in, the city of Bellingham and all of the cities in Whatcom County together to put together a good plan that will help everyone in Whatcom County.

Commissioner District 2

Ken Bell

Ken Bell is finishing his first term as Port of Bellingham commissioner, where he serves as president. Bell is president of Iron Creek Group, a company that cleans up contaminated soil, and is owner of Best Recycling Inc., a global waste management company.

Why did you decide to run again for port commissioner?

There were so many things that we started that we didn’t finish. With Blaine, we started to finish the Sawtooth dock and we started to put money in the fishing processing industry that’s on the waterfront. In Bellingham, we were just beginning to put infrastructure in on the old GP site and we’re just now getting our shipping terminal to a place where we can receive business. With the support of people like the commercial fishermen, they basically talked me into it because we’ve done so much for them in Blaine.

What are your top priorities for the Port of Bellingham?

Finish the infrastructure repair. The number one challenge is to get the infrastructure back into usable form.

What issues are most important to you for Blaine, Birch Bay and Custer residents?

Clearly, it’s going to be making sure we finish the infrastructure repairs on the Blaine dock. Broadband in the county in places where it’s spotty or where it’s not sufficient. Specifically for Blaine, I think Blaine is going to be the oyster capital of America. With Drayton Harbor there, I can see Blaine being the place where people across America go to get the best oysters. I would love to see that built out. Those are my biggest priorities.

Is there anything else you would like to add?

If I had a number one, it would be making sure Drayton Harbor became known as the oyster capital of the world.

Kelly Krieger

Kelly Krieger has served as a Democratic precinct committee officer and has owned two small businesses. She has a master’s degree in business administration and has worked for multi-national corporations.

Why did you decide to run for port commissioner?

I have an absolute passion and interest in the economic future of the county. I’ve seen so much opportunity here that we’re just not using.

What are your top priorities for the Port of Bellingham?

My top priorities are seeing us create businesses that will serve us well in the future. My absolute top priority is to respond to what we see happening with our weather and our climate because this really does impact our economy. We’ve seen it impact shellfish this summer and we saw it heavily impact our agriculture economy.

We’re really holding ourselves back by not providing high-speed, public fiber internet to our whole county. This is an economic issue, but it’s also an equity issue.

My third thing, which is all related to growing our economy in sustainable ways, is creating job opportunities in clean energy, tech and forward-thinking businesses that will employ the students that graduate from all of our amazing institutions. We have some of the best education in the country right here in the county and we’re not using that resource to grow our economy. I’ve talked to small, innovative companies in Bellingham and they’re not getting the support they need.

What issues are most important to you for Blaine, Birch Bay and Custer residents?

I’d like to see the port begin to reach out to the whole county because the mission is economic development for our whole county. There’s a lot of infrastructure things that have to happen in Blaine with the docks that haven’t been attended to.

Is there anything else you would like to add?

My vision for our future is very long-range. When I see the things that are happening in our world, things are happening pretty fast. We have to help our economy be more adaptable to climate events that will keep happening.

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