As Christopher Wiegenstein runs to fill Position 2, Barbara Armes and John Chaszar face each other to take his current Position 4 seat on the Oak Harbor City Council.

The two candidates shared concerns over aging infrastructure, mental health treatment, homelessness and the need to enhance downtown Oak Harbor to attract more tourists.

Chaszar serves as the vice-chair of the Oak Harbor Planning Commission, the treasurer for Citizens for Better Schools, has held leadership roles in different chambers of commerce and visitor bureaus around the country, and has been involved with state and federal lobbying efforts. He also worked as a casino executive and was responsible for $150 million budgets and teams of over 1,000 employees. Currently, he works as a substitute teacher in Oak Harbor’s school district.

Armes has worked 30 years as a practical nurse who took care of Alzheimer and dementia patients in Illinois. After she retired, she moved to Whidbey where she took an interest in attending city council and parks division meetings to keep herself and the people in her precinct involved.

Her civic involvement grew in 2020, when she managed the 10th legislative district office for local, state and federal candidates, and served as the canvassing coordinator for local and state candidates in the past two elections.

“I’ve met lots and lots of people in the last few months,” she said. “ And I want (people) to know that if they have a problem or concern they can come to me and I will try everything I can to solve it.”

Armes’ priorities include replacing aging sewer pipes and repaving roads. In April 2023, she was taken on a personal tour of the city’s sewer system, which she said is in poor condition. As a council member, she would give her input on which infrastructure projects are most urgent and would have the biggest impact on the community.

“And hopefully with fixing all of this, maybe — maybe — we will be able to fix our sewer rates that people don’t like.”

Even if she doesn’t get elected, she said, she intends to personally speak with the Public Works Director to get the details and make sure the money is being spent in the best way possible.

Chaszar is also planning to learn more about the full extent of the city’s infrastructure issues and advocate for more transparency, as he finds that voters were often not thoroughly explained the reason why some decisions had to be made despite costing so much taxpayer money — which is why, he said, residents have negative feelings towards the water treatment plant.

“I never got an answer why we were gonna give the Port of Coupeville $200,000 for an airport that is not even in city limits when we’ve got so many needs here locally,” he said as another example.

Armes also said she would advocate for city parks to be more accessible to people with disabilities and for more affordable housing projects. Accessibility is an important topic for Armes, who recalled struggling with accessibility after a car accident put her temporarily in a wheelchair in her teens.

“We have to make sure that we include everybody and that nobody is left out,” she said.

By advocating for affordable housing, Armes hopes to help the city retain its workforce. She said the council could support organizations like Habitat for Humanity or advocate for the construction of a community of small houses.

When it comes to Oak Harbor’s unhoused population, Armes said she would inform herself on the issue and look for resources to fund possible solutions.

Chaszar said a possible way to tackle the local homelessness issue would be a collaboration between the private and the public sector that would incentivize unhoused individuals to “re-engage” in the community, for example through public service or giving them the confidence to join the workforce.

“We cannot continue to have the homeless problem be a tax on the community,” he said. “There has to be a way to reincorporate these folks back into the community.”

When asked about mental health issues affecting the city, he said he was pleased with the opiates settlement but he would like to see more settlement money being invested into mental health treatment and resources.

Armes expressed concern over the lack of facilities to help people with mental disabilities, and said she wants to have constructive discussion with the county and other counties to find a solution.

Another priority for Chaszar is attracting more tourists to downtown Oak Harbor, particularly Pioneer Way. He believes the city can’t just rely on the traffic generated by Deception Pass.

“We need to be a destination instead of a pass through,” he said.

Chaszar would like to see more community involvement on plans to enhance downtown, and suggested the use of charrettes — a meeting involving all stakeholders.

Armes talked about her vision of a thriving downtown as well, which in her candidate statement she said would happen by welcoming more retail stores and restaurants, and by working with the Chamber of Commerce and the Oak Harbor Main Street Association to improve and encourage more festivals.

“We need to make sure that our city thrives because that’s the driver of how we finance everything,” she said.

Note: A previous version of this story inaccurately reported that Chaszar’s first name was Joseph. It is actually John. We regret the error.

Chaszar