Background information:
- Graduated University of California at Berkeley 1977, B.A. in Psychology with emphasis in early childhood education.
- Diagnostic evaluator; Livingston Montana School District 1977-78
- Director of Grants, Community Development Director, Assistant to the Mayor; City of Livingston, Montana 1978-1986;
- Awards:
- American Public Power Association: Energy Innovator Award 1981-1984 "First Municipal Wind Farm Development in U.S.A." Washington D.C.
- Governors Awards for Historic Preservation: 1980 and 1982 Helena, Montana
- National Trust for Historic Preservation Award: First Multiple Resource District Nomination in U.S. 1982, Washington D.C.
I am serving my third consecutive term on the Poulsbo City Council. I previously served on the Poulsbo Planning commission in the late 1980's, and on the Olympic College NK Advisory Board in the early 1990's, as well as serving on the Martha and Mary Corporate Advisory Board and on the Board of my Congregation. I have sat on the Board of the Kitsap Economic Development Council from 1987 to 2004, having been Chair of the immensely productive Regional Telecommunications Committee, when the work shifted over the Kitsap Regional Coordinating Council where I have co-chaired its Broadband Task Force since. Lastly, I served on the Kitsap County Commissioners appointed Base Reduction and Closure Committee (BRAC) to help safeguard our very important military bases, which we accomplished.
Having established highly successful financial services offices for two very large and well-respected firms, I feel I bring a unique perspective to public service, one of recognizing the strengths and weaknesses inherent in the public and private sectors--both must work in tandem to keep our city and our county working toward productive jobs for our citizens, a healthy environment for our children and adequate protections of our personal rights, properties and the larger community good while balancing a budget. Helping guide Poulsbo into the 21st century is my passion, including sensible growth, better Tribal relations, and pursuing "telework" as an alternative means of providing family-wage community-based jobs while reducing traffic congestion.
The idea of telework, sometimes called "telecommuting", offers great promise to remote or isolated communities, where a significant portion of its working population physically commutes to distant jobs. Kitsap County, with its reliance on cars, motorcycles and buses to get folks onto ferry or bridges to work in King, Pierce, or Snohomish Counties is such a place. Some 30-40% of our primary job workforce commutes to work like this, involving daily commutes of 3 to 4 hours in long exhaust-choked lines.
Those of us who work with our "heads" for a living need not compete daily on our congested roadways with those who must work with their "hands". We must encourage through investment in true high-speed broadband services with fiber-optic connections the use of "virtual" meetings with fast secure audio, video and download capabilities to create the work environment at home or in locally-based remote offices.
We can avoid expensive taxpayer paid-for roadbed expansion with all of its environmental degradation, while expanding work opportunities right here at home! We can work together on these innovative solutions to growth problems and bring Poulsbo into the 21st century now.