(Yesterday we ran Part One of the Orcas Issues’ candidate interviews. Following are answers to the second set of questions posted to Rick Hughes and Scott Lancaster.)
4) What is your opinion on the current state of the CAO update?
Scott Lancaster: The council is spending solid time on it and has been asking good questions and the right ones. I am very concerned about the size of the buffers they’re considering and the ramifications on future jobs across the employment spectrum, not just construction.
There’s some pretty well-respected attorneys waiting in the wings for the outcome, and the cost of lititgation is not a pleaseant one in a budget that has no extra money.
The question has been asked, ‘What was the problem in the first place?’ and I don’t believe that’s ever been adequately answered. But the horse is out of the barn at this point and we just have to deal with what the council sets forth, moving forward.
Rick Hughes: The CAO is an incredibly complex project that attempts to balance the desires and rights of property owners with anticipated future impact on the county’s natural resources, which include geologically hazardous areas, wetlands, uplands, fish and wildlife habitat, frequently flooded areas and shoreline areas with compliance to state regulations without upsetting every party involved.
That may be an impossible task, but the current council has made great strides and once done we will have enhanced access to vital funds for public works projects which would offset current budgetary restrictions.
5) What distinguishes you from your opponent? What have you learned from your previous civic experience, i.e. EPRC for Hughes , the school board for Lancaster?
Rick Hughes: I would like to see San Juan County move forward and embrace the future instead of clinging to the past. All my life I have had the good fortune of being able to make change and think out of the box for complex problem solving. I bring 22 years of marketing/advertising/management and non-profit service to this job as well as 44 years of passion and life experiences on this island.
With over 17 years of sales experience, I love working with people to solve problems and feel that I have the ability to address all issues in a fair and unbiased approach.
I have learned that anyone in a community can make a difference and make change, if they work hard. If you care and seek change without direct reward, the possibilities of change are limitless.
Scott Lancaster: I have lived here for 20 years, been a part of community fabric the whole time. I have been elected twice to the school board and through that experience have gained valuable collective bargaining experience, have been responsible for a $7 million-plus budget and the wellbeing and welfare of over 100 employees and most important, over 600 students.
Due to my time on school board, I’m on a first-name basis with all our Olympia representatives and have been effectively able to lobby them in Olympia over the last several years, resulting most recently in the school district receiving a million dollar grant through Senator Ranker for the re-siding of the high school.
6) At the end of your four-year term, what item(s) would you like to hear people say, “Thanks to you, this got done”?
Rick Hughes: A new economic model was introduced and implemented with new recession-resistant industries that augment our historical industrial base of tourism, retail services and construction. In addition the historical industrial base itself was bolstered through the county film and video initiative, which brought film and video production from B.C. to the county and enhanced the image of the county and cemented its position as a destination of choice.
Scott Lancaster: That I was able to be part of a council that stopped the budget slide and was a champion for the middle class workers throughout San Juan County; and finished up what the county started with reducing the amount of solid waste that’s leaving the county.
Wow–the position is “the revised CAO is almost done and therefore we should roll over and let it go to litigation?” I thought the whole idea of electing a new representative was to have someone raise the issue of “What’s the problem with our current CAO?” and actually GET AN ANSWER. Why inflict these radical, confused, baseless, and ineffective CAO changes (which are nonetheless expensive and burdensome for owners)? Prior to the recession, construction constituted 42% of the County economy. If you want the economy to come back with decent paying jobs, it’s not going to be more tourism service jobs, which are perfect for teenagers but don’t support working families. We still have a choice–fix it now, or spend a fortune on litigation until the courts make us do it right. Certainly, the County would be sued either way, but I’d rather see the County Council update the CAO with solid science and suporting its citizens than carry water for Ecology and the special interest…