Occupation: Corrections officer

Relevant experience: I’ve lived in Aberdeen since 2001. I’ve worked at the prison for 20 years, been married for over 27 years to the best woman ever. I’ve raised three awesome kids.

1. Describe your thoughts on the city’s response to the complex homeless issue, including its purchase of the S. Michigan St. property, its handling of federal court rulings directing the city’s response, and what you, as a city council member, would do to tackle the issue over the next several years.

The problem with the homeless isn’t money or location, mostly it’s drugs. Right now our police are three staff down, as if the job wasn’t hard enough. We need more police to focus on drug dealers but we also need better, more effective ordinances to help support the effort.

More camps, bigger camps and more money from taxpayers hasn’t worked in Seattle or Olympia so why do that here? We need to make drugs BAD again. As far as a camp, we need to give them the minimum requirements set by the judge, no more, until we get them to agree to real treatment. We have a ton of options for those wanting to quit drugs, but no more freebies. If they don’t like it the bus goes to Olympia several times a day.

2. The city is moving forward with its quest for a City Administrator. Do you believe such a hire is a good investment for the city? Do you support the idea of a City Administrator?

As far as an administrator we have one guy running for mayor with a full time job that flies all over the world and we have one guy who’s retired that can give his full attention to the job. That’s a decision for the voters. What I do know is that the city has been sued a lot in the last couple years and that’s not acceptable. We need to work out problems not stumble into them.

3. Aberdeen faces a lot of complicated issues in the coming years (infrastructure improvements, catching up with a constantly changing economy, lack of affordable housing, etc.). As a council member, what would you do to address what you feel is the most pressing issue facing the city in the near future?

We’ve attempted to attract tourists but we got homeless. The drugs have to go before anyone will take our town seriously for business and we really need jobs. I’m talking about commercial and industrial union wage jobs. The few new businesses in downtown need year around customers not just the seasonal rush. Push out the drugs and push in the jobs.

I’m running because I want my future grandchildren to play in the parks without having to worry about needles. Our community is being held hostage by criminals feeding drug addictions. When I saw that our mayor felt the answer was a bigger homeless camp I couldn’t sit back and watch Aberdeen die. I’ve worked more double shifts than I can count and been a union member for 20 years. To me this isn’t a Democrat or Republican thing, it’s an Aberdeen thing. We don’t need to be Seattle’s dumping ground and I will fight to keep that from happening.