City council candidates Hansen, Jenkins both confident

Age: 35.

Neighborhood: West Minnehaha.

Occupation: Office services manager, Clark Public Utilities.

Family: Wife, Carly; son, Louis, 11; daughter, Caroline, 6.

Money raised: $13,739.

Campaign website: http://www.retainbarthansen.com.

Major endorsements: Vancouver firefighters union, Mayor Tim Leavitt, former Mayor Royce Pollard, Clark County Association of Realtors and Friends of Fire Station 6.

Age: 56.

Neighborhood: Northwest.

Occupation: Retired network manager, Clark Public Utilities.

Family: Wife, Vicki; daughter, Alison, 30; son, Austin, 26.

Money raised: $4,970.

Campaign website: http://www.jenkins4citycouncil.com.

Major endorsements: Building Industry Association of Clark County, Clark County Commissioner Tom Mielke and former primary opponent Jack King O’Neal III.

Elections don’t often have two winners, but in the case of the Aug. 17 primary, Vancouver City Council candidates Bart Hansen and John Jenkins both came away with a feeling of victory.

Hansen, the incumbent who was appointed to his spot in February, carried the day, and finished with 47.8 percent of the vote. But Jenkins, his challenger, said he is buoyed by the 42.2 percent he gathered.

The wildcard for Nov. 2? The race had 5,817 under votes — a full 20.3 percent of those who cast primary ballots didn’t choose any candidate.

Hansen and Jenkins are vying for a seat on a seven-member council that’s recently had more than its fair share of drama, tough choices and big change.

The city budget, public safety and the Columbia River Crossing are ongoing issues, while flare-ups between citizens and Councilor Jeanne Harris and the departure of City Manager Pat McDonnell are short-term issues that could have long-lasting impacts.

Agreement on Harris

The one area where Jenkins and Hansen agree is over the Sept. 13 actions of Harris, when she demanded that the mayor “gavel down” a speaker, quarreled with another councilor and left the room.

“You’ve just got to bite your tongue, go in a back room, beat your head against wall,” Jenkins said of how to deal with frustration.

“(Harris’) behavior was completely inexcusable,” Hansen said.

Both candidates called for more civil behavior from both councilors and citizens who come to speak. They also each said they felt that people should be allowed to come to speak for their three minutes on any topic they choose.

The other issue that has come up since the primary is the departure of McDonnell.

Hansen said he’s waiting until the council conducts interviews to decide which candidate he favors. But he also said he disliked the council’s decision to spend $12,000 on a consultant to help them find an internal candidate.

“Would the normal, everyday average person say that is an appropriate way to spend money?” he asked. “I would say no.”

Jenkins said he like Assistant City Manager Eric Holmes as a potential replacement.

“I think it’s a hands-down,” he said. “I like that guy. He talked to me, and not at me or above my head or around me.”

No-tolls platform

Since they’ve entered the race, both Hansen and Jenkins have articulated clear platforms.

Jenkins is staunchly against tolling and light rail as part of a new bridge. He said that he’d rather see the proposed $3.6 billion bridge project fail completely than to see Clark County motorists tolled.

Hansen has maintained that while he’s not thrilled with the prospect of tolls, a new bridge is necessary. He also notes that he does not sit on any of the transportation boards that have influence on the bridge process.

“I’m trying to stand up for the citizens of Vancouver on things I can affect, on things I have a direct one-in-seven vote on,” Hansen said.

Jenkins acknowledges that it likely wouldn’t be anytime soon that he would serve on the C-Tran or Regional Transportation Council boards, as “more senior, more knowledgeable” councilors tend to be in those roles.

If he’s elected with other anti-tolling candidates, he believes that as a group, they could help change the course.

“I’d have pressure from the citizens to the people who are attending those meetings to keep the citizens in mind,” Jenkins said. “That’s what’s different about me — I’m willing to bring the fight to their table, I’m not afraid.”

He also said he thinks he showed well in the primary specifically because of people’s disenchantment with the bridge.

“I think (the primary was) a huge referendum,” Jenkins said. “People are still very disappointed with the way the whole thing is going.”

He is among the candidates supported by the NoTolls.com Political Action Committee and its leader, David Madore. Contributions from Madore, his wife and the PAC total $3,200 of the $4,970 Jenkins had reported to the state Public Disclosure Commission as of Tuesday. Other contributors include Vancouver residents Larry Patella and Bill and Stephanie Turlay.

“I tell people where Larry Patella is the soul of my campaign, David Madore is probably the spirit,” Jenkins said.

Emergency services

Hansen has campaigned, and voted in the council chambers, against making any cuts to police and fire services.

He’s vowed to vote against any budget that includes losses in public safety. He’s also against the idea of putting what he says is a core city service into a levy. The general fund should be dedicated to that purpose, he said.

“It is a gamble, and, really, what are you gambling with?” he asked. “You’re gambling with people’s lives.”

Hansen has received $1,800 of the $13,379 he has raised from the Vancouver firefighters union. Other big contributors include $2,000 from Ed and Dollie Lynch (Dollie died Saturday); $1,000 from Steve Hansen (no relation); and $1,000 from the Southwest Washington Electricians Political Action Committee.

A budget that includes no cuts to public safety would mean that a full 40 percent of the city’s non-police and fire employees would have to be cut, which city administrators say would be untenable. A recreation center would have to close, and other services would also be decimated, they have said.

Hansen said that’s a sacrifice that would have to be made.

“Yes, there would be more people that would have to leave the city; that’s unfortunate,” he said.

Jenkins said public safety is important to him as well, but he’s of the mind that all city unions, including police and fire, should take pay cuts. If city workers gave up 10 percent of their wages across the board, they could have avoided layoffs this year, he said.

Police and fire unions are not allowed to strike under state law, meaning that any impasse reached between the city and those unions must be settled by a state arbitrator. That arbitrator looks at what a police officer or firefighter earns in comparable cities and sets a binding salary based on that.

“If they asked employees: Are you going to give up a little bit here to save everybody’s job, they’d say yeah,” Jenkins said. “You just have to give something back — tell them within a three-to-five-year period, you have to give them back something they’re losing.”

Hansen said he is also for salary and benefit reductions, saying they’re necessary to keep the city viable in the long term. Unions should be amenable to cuts “because that’s basically going to help to keep their jobs,” he said.

“How are you going to recruit qualified employees if they don’t feel they have a future?” Hansen asked.

Whoever wins, he will have to run again next November, when Mayor Tim Leavitt’s original city council term was to have expired. Both have said they will run again.

Andrea Damewood: 360-735-4542 or andrea.damewood@columbian.com.