For our Fall 2020 Voters Guide, we emailed Whitman County Commissioner candidates a set of 12 questions on professional experience, local priorities and general issues. We have included those questions and the unedited responses. We have also provided links to candidate websites, campaign funding reports and other local media coverage when available.
Commissioners serve four-year terms on the three-person board of county commissioners, which oversees the county government administration. Commissioners set county policy and approve department budgets, zoning changes and other decisions. They also make of the county Board of Health and the Board of Equalization. The position will pay $74,430 next year.
CANDIDATE BACKGROUND
Website: elect-tomhandy.com
Social media: Twitter, Facebook page
PDC campaign funding reports: Tom Handy, 2020
Notable donors:
Pullman Mayor Glenn Johnson, Pullman Chamber President Marie Dymkoski, multiple Pullman City Council members
Running against: Dean Kinzer, Republican
Recent media coverage or debate replays:
League of Women Voters of Pullman: A 40-minute live debate from Oct. 17
Northwest Public Broadcasting: Live debate in partnership with Whitman County Watch and The Civic Scoop: Pullman, Sept. 24
Lewiston Tribune: Whitman County race pits 2-term incumbent vs. political newcomer
Daily Evergreen: County candidates debate on COVID-19 response, small business assistance
Whitman County Gazette: Contested race for county commissioner
QUESTIONNAIRE
How would you describe your current occupation or job title(s)?
I am the owner of Paradise Creek Brewery which operates a taproom and brewery production facility and a full-service restaurant within the city limits of Pullman. We have expanded to two locations in Pullman over the past several years. We make beer in Pullman using several Whitman County grown barley varieties. We sell our products all over the state of Washington and Northern Idaho. We have developed meaningful relationships with our growers in the process. We employ an average of 30 people and have employed hundreds over the course of time.
What other memberships or community affiliations would you like to share with voters?
Over the past 34 years, I have been involved in many community-based organizations.
Previous affiliations:
● Whitman County Business Development Association – President
● Inland Northwest Craft Brewers Association – President
● Pullman Chamber of Commerce – President
● Pullman Historic Preservation Committee – Board
● Whitman County Historical Society – Board
● United Way of the Palouse – Board
● CCUCC Church Pullman – Chair of Trustees and Moderator
Current Affiliations:
● Downtown Pullman Association – President
● Pullman 2040 – Steering Committee
● WSU/Pullman Town-Gown initiative – Downtown Focus Committee Chair
● S. Cottonwood Bay Ln. Property Owners Association – President
● Coeur d’Alene Lakeshore Property Association – Board
● Pullman Lion’s Club member.
● Pullman Lentil Festival Beer Garden – Chair
● Pullman 4th of July Food Court – Chair.
I have always been involved in community-based organizations in one way or another. Many of these have recruited me because of my leadership abilities and willingness to listen, learn, advocate, and implement.
What, if any, charities, political campaigns, or nonprofits have you donated money or volunteer hours to in the past year?
Over the past year, I have put time into the Current Affiliations indicated above and donated to organizations like Boost Collaborative, Community Action Center, Special Olympics, Cancer Society, Parkinson’s Foundation, and others. My business, Paradise Creek Brewery, has donated to dozens and dozens of fundraisers for non-profit organizations all over the county. We actively look for ways to help make a positive difference in the community.
What professional accomplishment are you most proud of and why?
Keeping a small business in operation for nearly 20 years is a major accomplishment! We made it through the recession in 2008 and now this pandemic. This takes a lot of forward-thinking, research, planning, modeling, testing, and execution. We repurposed and preserved a historic building and adapted our business model to suit the times. The brewery came about as a result of the recession to create lower price point products when times were tough. That worked. This year, we had to quickly move all our sales online for takeout and delivery almost overnight when the pandemic shutdown took place. We have also had the opportunity to expand and built a production facility in an underutilized area of Pullman and have brought value to that area.
During the time I have been in business, I have learned to ALWAYS have a plan B, and, as times and situations change, you have to be prepared to adapt. You also must plan for the future in a way that makes you more resilient by not having all your recovery eggs in one basket. A disaster recovery plan has many facets and they better include growth opportunities. You can’t just rely on savings or a loan to get you through until something better happens to you. If you create a strategy where one thing can take you down when it runs dry, you lose.
What is your vision for Whitman County, and are there other counties or agencies you would like to emulate?
My vision for Whitman County is one where there are plenty of opportunities. A county where people want to live because of the way of life we offer. If Whitman county is to thrive, we need to evolve and welcome new residents. We must market what we have and make room for growth. As people’s desire to move out of the city grows, so can our cities and towns and rural areas grow. My vision of Whitman County is one where everyone has high-speed broadband to the home. Where working remotely is not only a possibility but desirable. My vision for Whitman County embraces technology which can bring more living-wage jobs. Whitman County is a place that provides great educational opportunities. We need to preserve that. We have great healthcare facilities; we need to preserve those. And we must maintain a safe and peaceful place for our seniors.
I don’t necessarily want to emulate anyone. I think we have enough of our own unique attributes that we just need to tap and enhance. Who else has Steptoe Butte, Kamiak Butte, the county with the largest wheat production in the nation, access to an amazing river and outdoor activities within minutes? We have a World Class University, businesses that provide local, regional and global products and services. We have cities with populations of about 35,000 and towns with just a handful of people. We have a tourism potential that is yet to be fully developed. People not only visit for WSU events but for the photographic qualities of our landscape, our waterways, trail system, and our easy pace of life. We don’t have any major metropolitan areas and we like it that way.
We have lots to be proud of. We have generations of people who came when the towns were developing. Some with a heritage that goes back as far as recorded time. We build lifelong memories for those who come for a short time and provide opportunities for those who don’t intend to but wind up staying forever. I am one of those.
Are there specific issues or projects that would benefit from increased collaboration between county and Pullman city officials? How would you approach those efforts?
I first have to say that I don’t want to diminish the value of the working relationships we must have with all our towns. But for Pullman, my working relationship with City officials and City Council is strong. I have worked with them for decades in a number of different capacities, and we have developed a strong sense of trust.
Since Pullman is a major population center and revenue source in the county, it is important that this relationship is as strong as possible. We need to renew the contract for a District Court presence in Pullman. We need to prioritize work on Pullman Airport road and encourage development in both the incorporated and unincorporated areas. We should review our contractual obligations and make sure they make sense today. We should look at the entities where we share oversight like SEWEDA and Whitcom and work together to make them even more robust and effective. We should explore the best ways to utilize the North Bypass land. Study the possibilities of a Transportation Benefit District or similar instrument to make up for the lack of road funds available for new road construction and improvements.
But it is more than just working with the City of Pullman. Within Pullman Washington State University more than doubles Pullman’s non-student population. SEL headquartered in Pullman is the county’s largest private employer and is growing. The County needs to maintain strong ties and relationships with business in general too. Pullman is positioned well for growth it is in the best interest of the entire county to do what we can to help enable it. The spillover into surrounding communities will continue to help them too.
With COVID-19 impacting county revenue, what is your philosophy for approaching budget reductions or negotiating with department heads on spending cuts? Are there services you would prioritize?
As far as prioritization, health-life-safety needs always come first. Any cuts in those areas if any would have to be done very carefully. I am not in favor of straight across the board percentage cuts as some services can’t be cut as much as others. We need to beat COVID and get it behind us.
The department heads are professionals in their respective fields and are best suited to make the hard choices. I don’t think that any commissioner will ever know as much about every department as the department heads but they can ask tough questions and help brainstorm. Luckily right now, the CARES Act is covering a lot of the additional operating shortfalls and keeping county employees from being furloughed. Other than gas tax most of the other revenue sources are holding rather steady. In the future rather than looking to make cuts, I would prefer to look for ways to increase revenue.
What aspect of county infrastructure (other than roads and bridges) will play the largest role in the future of the county and what are your plans to support or improve that infrastructure?
With the ever-growing need for communications and connectivity, we need to ensure that we work diligently in support of the Port to bring fiber to the home. Now more than ever internet access is crucial to growing a local economy. People have the ability to work from home or work for a remote office in a far-off City while enjoying the Whitman County lifestyle with open spaces and recreational opportunities at their doorstep.
It should be assumed that the current county leadership is keeping up with preventive maintenance of the existing real property, at least, that is what I hear and those maintenance schedules should be updated and reprioritized on a regular basis so there are no emergencies due to neglect. Building maintenance funds funded to support basic maintenance is the most secure way to ensure they are taken care of.
While the existing structures and our current physical infrastructure is vital, I see other opportunities for the future in some of the developing infrastructure projects that are underway. I believe that the County GIS (Geographic Information System Mapping) project can be a vital part of our growth and lifestyle if built robustly. Not only would the public and county officials be able to look up parcel and infrastructure data, but there are possibilities for a much greater public benefit. Whitcom uses GIS to locate addresses for emergencies. Transportation uses it for road information and road condition overlays. GIS locates fire hydrants and other utilities for safety and insurance purposes. It is used for our trail system locating not only the trails but waypoints and other points of interest. Couple that with GPS based emergency location of recreational users. It could show district boundaries with the ability to turn on or off layers for school, commissioner, hospital, and whatever districts. It could serve tourism needs by locating destinations with links to more information. That framework could include an accurate location-based depiction of almost every aspect of Whitman County if developed to its maximum potential. Base layers could be made available to other entities like chambers of commerce to create their own data overlays all with accurate and up-to-date base data. When all are tied to the same general framework, it avoids duplication of effort and accuracy by locating basic attributes. The cost of this project could be shared among a number of entities and open up grant opportunities that don’t presently exist. Big project? Yep, but parts of it are well underway. We just need to connect the dots. Think of the possibilities.
An appointed citizen commission has set the pay for all county elected officials since 2005. Salaries for most elected officials have nearly doubled in those 15 years. Do you support the continued use of the salary commission? Why or why not?
Those same citizens elect us. In order to be on the wage commission, they need to realize what it takes to keep qualified people interested in running for office. Many of us do it for the passion of making a difference, but we have to make a living too. Let there be no misunderstanding, an elected official’s job isn’t easy and you are on call 24/7. But, I think it would be a conflict of interest if we were to set our own salary levels even though it is done commonly in higher levels of government. The Whitman County Commissioners are paid the lowest of any elected county official yet have much more responsibility than most people realize. Being a good effective county commissioner takes a lot of time. I am not advocating for more money just stating the facts. Whenever you have uncontested races at the county level it is often because the work required is not commensurate with the wage paid. I think the wisdom of the citizen commission can and will do the right thing with all the proper considerations in mind.
Do you support the county enacting policies to address climate change or promote environmental sustainability? If so, what steps would you take?
I see a couple of policy opportunities to address climate change. A conscious effort to replace vehicles and appliances with more efficient ones might be one. But, we can have a greater impact in the county by promoting the creation, and/or preservation of renewable energy power generation facilities. From the green energy carbon footprint perspective, we need to preserve our hydroelectric and wind-powered plants. The county can’t do these things on their own but we can certainly be advocates and create opportunities for those companies that want to locate here that will affect climate change in a positive way. We need to seek out, make it attractive for, and find ways to enable companies like Protium. They are a WSU offshoot startup whose mission statement is “Growing the Hydrogen Economy. Enabling cheaper, greener, and more available hydrogen through novel ideas and new technologies” Companies like this are on to something big just like SEL. We need to find and nurture them in every way we can (within the law of course) to help them be successful in finding global solutions to problems we all face.
What do you consider to be the greatest areas of opportunity for expanding recreation and tourism in the county?
I think our trail system is top-notch and a great asset to Whitman County. I believe that expanding that system with the link from Pullman to Colfax known as the CAP (Colfax, Albion, Pullman) trail would be a great addition. Having seen some of the amazingly beautiful and picturesque landscape that is largely hidden from the public eye along that rail bed I think it will be a huge draw from not only local people but others who want a long trail experience that would run from Colfax to Julietta ID. I own property along the Chipman Trail on the Pullman Moscow Highway and admit that I was skeptical about a trail at the foot of my driveway when it was first proposed but it has been a great experience having it where it is and the users have been very respectful of my property.
I also see that most towns have festivals to celebrate a number of things about their heritage. I would like to see more of a county-wide approach to promoting these events and making them more successful. It is a lot of fun to hang out with the local people as they celebrate where they live.
Also, having venues like Webb’s Slough in St. John is just amazing and should be celebrated. They bring thousands of people from all over the world to see boat races in a man-made course in the middle of a field. With a concert thrown in here and there, it is an event space that is as much fun as the Gorge was in its early days.
We need to look at what we already have and find ways to promote that as our way of life here in Whitman County. There are many other examples of things that are already happening that we can help to enhance that will bring people into the County. We should get coordinated and be collaborative. Whitman county is a fun place to be.
If you could wave a magic wand and instantly change one thing about Whitman County, what would it be and why?
That is actually a more difficult question than I first imagined, and the answer today probably isn’t the same as it might have been last year. I would put in a big lake and give everyone a cabin with a boat and a cooler of beer. No seriously, eliminating the pandemic by finding a miracle cure would be the thing I would do with my magic. I am sure I don’t need to explain why.