Letter: St. Clair has ability to get job done

September 17, 2022 1:30 am

Editor,

Island County Commissioner Janet St. Clair merits re-election in November for her performance in office and exceptional grasp of the job’s intricacies. Her numerous and varied roles require a good sense of humor, an open mind, a vision of our county government’s future, the ability to compromise and the ability to delegate. She devotes a lot of time to communicating and negotiating. And she also works with her constituents and responds to their concerns.

As head of roads and grounds for my neighborhood homeowners’ association (HOA), I witnessed St. Clair take action after an abandoned sailboat ran hard aground on our HOA’s community beach in January 2021. Determined to get it removed, I spoke with staff people at several federal and county government agencies with no success, so I reached out to St. Clair for help. Before long she had Island County Public Works involved. Under her leadership, Island County Board of Commissioners soon approved policy making our abandoned sailboat a test case for like incidents in the future. The cost to our HOA was to be 10% of the estimated total cost of $20,000-25,000.

But then St. Clair decided to run the problem by her contact at the State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Derelict Vessel Removal Program. After establishing that DNR could remove our abandoned sailboat, she referred me to her contact so that he and I could hash out the details. DNR put the job out for bid, and within a suitable time the low bidder cut up and hauled away the abandoned sailboat at no cost to either our HOA or Island County.

Whether it’s a problem specific to an individual constituent or a new policy benefiting all of Island County, St. Clair gets the job done. She prepares for, and participates in regular meetings of the Island County Board of Commissioners as well as at meetings of Board sub-committees and County-related boards and commissions. In short, St. Clair oversees Island County activities and works to ensure that citizen concerns are addressed, federal and state requirements are fulfilled, and Island County operations run smoothly. I urge you to join with me in voting for Janet St. Clair this November.

Mike Noblet

Clinton