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Procedure trumped philosophy. That’s how La Conner Mayor Ramon Hayes explains his decision to not sign a town council resolution passed Oct. 26 recommending Skagit County commissioners not place Fully Contained Communities in the county’s comprehensive plan. The town council had approved the non-binding three-page advisory measure by a 3-1 margin with member Bill Stokes, who sought a delay of the vote, asking to furher consider the issue, dissenting. The county comp plan is designed to provide a vision for the future, including long-range goa...
Rick Dole's lead increased to 56 votes over Councilmember Bill Stokes in their La Conner town council election race after the Skagit County elections office posted totals Friday. Ivan Carlson has a 102 vote lead over Councilmember John Leaver, while Councilmember Marylee Chamberlains 212 vote margin over Glen Johnson ensures her reelection. John Doyle has 1,007 votes, 82% of the total in the Fire District 13 Position 2 commissioner race, the only other local election with a challenger, Eric Day. The La Conner School Board directors, Amanda Bour...
In the closest race for a seat on La Conner’s town council, Councilmember Bill Stokes gained four votes as six of the eight votes counted Wednesday by Skagit County elections office staff went to him. He still trails challenger Rick Dole, 152 to 130 votes. Ivan Carlson took all nine votes, increasing his margin to 22.1% in the contest for Position 2, held by John Leaver. Councilmember MaryLee Chamberlain won seven of the eight votes cast for the Position 5 seat and now has 77.8% of the vote against Glen Johnson. For Fire District 13 C...
Last Tuesday, Oct. 26, La Conner’s town council and residents filling Maple Hall’s small meeting room heard from three candidates applying to fill the seat vacated by Jacque Brunisholz in August. Next Tuesday, Nov. 9, the four council members will choose between Bill Bruch, Rich De Shon and Annie Taylor. Each candidate had 15 minutes, starting with an introduction. De Shon went first. While he and his wife Terri moved here only two years ago, they want to stay here the rest of their lives, he...
La Conner once again showed that it is the little town that can – and does – when its town council last week passed a thorough and strongly worded resolution against the Skagit County commissioners allowing Fully Contained Communities to be included in the country’s comprehensive plan. Bravo for the three council members supporting the resolution. They took an important and necessary step. It does not mean the county commissioners will read the many-pointed resolution. It has 23 “whereas,” enough to choke a horse – or a devel...
The La Conner Town Council passed two important resolutions at its Oct. 26 meeting. On a motion by Councilmember Bill Stokes, council unanimously voted to increase the 2022 property tax by 1% after Finance Director Maria DeGoede reported there was zero banked – or extra – tax capacity this year. No one spoke at the public hearing preceding the vote. Staff and council determined the town needed an increase in property tax revenue from 2020, which brought in $339,196. The tax increase will bring in estimated new revenue of $3,387,...
The aptly titled “Last Minute - Town Hall Meeting,” an impromptu forum for La Conner town council candidates organized and promoted by Linda Clark, organizer of Reclaim Hedlin Field, took place on a seemingly appropriate cold and rainy Thursday night in the upstairs room of La Conner Seafood & Prime Rib House. Half the candidates showed, Ivan Carlson, Glen Johnson and councilmember Bill Stokes as did Clark and six area residents. The small group had a spirited discussion, mostly around the sale of the Hedlin Maple Avenue ballfield, which was...
In the first contested town council races since 2015, La Conner voters have spoken, re-electing MaryLee Chamberlain to Position 4 and giving challengers leads in the other council races. Ivan Carlson leads incumbent John Leaver 167 to 112 votes, a 19% advantage for Position 2. Rick Dole is 26 votes ahead of incumbent Bill Stokes for Position 3, 150 to 124 votes, a 9% margin. The 281 votes counted Tuesday in the Carlson-Leaver contest almost matches the 285 votes Leaver won in his unopposed 2017 election. In the 2020 presidential election 730...
Yesterday afternoon the La Conner Town Council interviewed Bill Bruch, Rich De Shon and Annie Taylor at a 5 p.m. special council meeting, part of the process for filling the seat vacated when Jacques Brunisholz resigned in August. Next week’s Weekly News will report on the interviews. Residents will be able to address council at the Nov. 9 public comment period before council discusses and votes to fill the position. The town code states that the full remaining council must vote on the replacement council position. Taylor has lived in La C...
Within a couple of weeks, four people, the current members of the La Conner Town Council, will determine which one of the three citizens who have expressed their interest in serving will be selected to sit on council. Usually, we rely on popular elections to determine who fills our legislative positions. That is not possible here because there is a vacant seat and it must be filled. So this particular “election” has four voters – the town council members. They will decide who will do the best job and who might best represent the maj...
As Election Day approaches, I have two simple questions for all candidates for La Conner Town Council, including the three who are under consideration by the council to fill the term of Jacques Brunisholz: 1. Who won the 2020 presidential election? 2. Are you vaccinated against COVID-19? Your answers to these questions are important to many of us because they will reveal your view of the role of a public servant, at any level, in the United States of America. Your answer to Question 1 will tell us if you understand how American constitutional...
Years in La Conner and why applied I moved to La Conner in September of 2013. I was asked by a few people in town to apply for the vacated position on town council. Giving it much thought, knowing I would have to find someone to cover my well-attended yoga classes on Tuesday nights when the town council gathers, I decided to apply. I do feel I would bring a unique voice to the group. Community involvement; successes I have been a member of La Conner’s Parks Commission since 2017, making C...
Years in La Conner and why applied My wife, Terri, and I have lived in La Conner for almost two years. I applied for the town council position because there was a vacancy and I have always made an effort to be an asset to my community. In La Conner, after several moves, we have finally found the combination of climate and culture that has satisfied our particular desires. Community involvement; successes I spent over twenty years as a public servant, working for the Placer County Sheriff’s O...
Years in La Conner and why applied 17 years. I am well qualified for the job as a former town council member and a longtime resident and business owner. I served on the Town Council in 2016 and 2017. I was forced to resign from the Council and move out of town due to a property management job change in June of 2017. I thought the move was permanent, but it turned out to be a 4-month project and I moved back to La Conner to be an on-site Property Manager in October 2017. Community involvement;...
Friday afternoon, Oct. 22, Mayor Ramon Hayes notified the La Conner Town Council of a 5 p.m. Oct. 26 special meeting for interviewing the three candidates for the vacant council position 1. The three applicants are Bill Bruch, Richard De Shon and Annie Taylor. Council agreed to this meeting when they set the framework for the interviews at a special council meeting Wednesday, Oct.20. The 5 p.m. meeting will be in-person at Maple Hall and via the Zoom video conference. Candidates will have 20 minutes but not be limited in their time, questions...
The La Conner Town Council covered a lot of ground verbally at its Oct. 12 meeting but no items on their agenda required a vote. Thirty-four of the 74 page council packet laid out the 2022 town budget, which Mayor Ramon Hayes had sent council the day before. Hayes told council, “You have a small pool of people, under 1,000, living in a boutique community.” He emphasized their needs must be managed with limited funding, Staff wage increases were one of a few line items emphasized, with Finance Director Maria DeGoede explaining it is pegged to th...
Building a new recreation and leisure activity model here continues to be a work in progress. Town officials are stressing the progress part. A first draft of an updated Parks Element to be included in La Conner’s Comprehensive Plan has been completed and made ready for Planning Commission review. Planner Michael Davolio said he and Parks Commission Chairman Ollie Iversen had reviewed edits made by former planner Marianne Manville-Ailles to the Parks Element proposal and together had made further changes for inclusion in the present draft. “The...
Monday Mayor Ramon Hayes notified the La Conner Town Council of a 3 p.m. Oct. 20 special meeting to establish an interview schedule for candidates for the vacant council position 1. The three applicants are Bill Bruch, Richard De Shon and Annie Taylor The council packets for the meeting are at Town Hall and the Town’s website: townoflaconner.org/151/Town-Council-Council-Meeting-Packet. The meeting will be conducted via Zoom video conference only: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82309353878?pwd=UDNlaHBYOVNqWHI1NWhsZmOzM05NZz09 Meeting ID: 823 0935 3...
It is time to choose among six candidates running for three La Conner town council seats. Get an up close and personal look at the candidates – the pairings are Ivan Carlson versus John Leaver, Rick Dole against Bill Stokes and Glen Johnson facing MaryLee Chamberlain – at the Skagit County League of Women Voters website: skagitlwv.org. The forum, prerecorded Wednesday, Oct. 13 and available on the website starting today, was organized in a partnership between the League and the La...
Mayor Ramon Hayes unveiled the Town of La Conner’s proposed 2022 budget at Tuesday’s town council meeting. Taking a very cautious approach and calling this “a time of uncertainty” in his budget message to council and the community, Hayes frames “adaptability and flexibility (as the) … guiding principles in preparing this budget.” The $4,743,298 projected revenues are almost $530,000 below the 2021 budget, 10% less. Expenditures are also reduced 10%, down $602,000 to almost $5,386,000 for 2022. The budget is in deficit of $642,695 an...
Ballots went out in the mail today for November’s election. Locally three La Conner council seats are contested. At least a couple of candidates are going door-to-door and half of them have signs in neighbors yards. Out of town, on both sides of the Swinomish Channel, both Eric Day and John Doyle want to represent residents living in Fire District 13. This is a small town and a rural fire district. The decisions on whom to vote for are important for residents, more so than the candidates. The council members and the fire district commissioner g...
Background and experiences I was raised in La Conner and in turn am raising my family here with my wife, Tawsha. Together we started a local business named Carlson Painting Company. I have worked on the water for twelve years in a variety of positions from ordinary seaman to chief mate. I am also a fourth generation La Conner volunteer firefighter. I believe I would be a good fit for the La Conner Town Council because I have a younger perspective with a bedrock of local history. Residents’ p...
Background and experiences Ex-New Yorker; Located La Conner 2011; Two adult sons; served U.S. Navy medical corpsman; Career: aviation field, Japan Airlines, Alaska, including service manager, project mgr. (JFK Terminal), Sales: snowplows, seating and revenue consultant. Operate (permitted) Airbnb “Super-host,” animal lover. Hobbies: Classic cars, biking and military miniatures. Appointed town council 2012. I love the town and want to contribute. Council accomplishments: Initiated “Sister Citie...
Background and experiences La Conner Planning Commissioner La Conner First on 1st committee member Retired U. S. Navy master chief (27 Years) Combat aircrew Disabled veteran Teaches ukulele at the Retirement Inn College graduate Skagit Valley College U. S. Navy Senior Enlisted Academy University of Phoenix President and board member of 1,300 home HOA: Same government model as La Conner Retired Boeing engineer Attended over 80 La Conner council meetings. A lifetime of service and caring....
Background and experiences Member of the Town Council since 2013, former chair of the Planning Commission, on which I served for seven years and a former code enforcement officer. Served with Skagit Bay Search & Rescue and the Skagit Watershed Council. I have also volunteered in many capacities in town and in the schools. I have experience in construction, auto mechanics and had a career as a certified holistic health practitioner and clinical hypnotherapist and massage instructor. Residents’ pe...
