Clark County’s newest county councilors were sworn in Tuesday, just ahead of the council’s first meeting of the year.
Camas resident Matt Little replaced Gary Medvigy as the District 4 councilor after defeating challenger Joe Zimmerman by 49 votes in the November general election. Vancouver resident Wil Fuentes replaced Karen Bowerman as the District 3 councilor after beating Chuck Keplar for the seat.
The election of Little and Fuentes marks a change to the once predominantly Republican council. While both consider themselves moderates, Fuentes is a Democrat and Little is an independent.
Little said he was honored to be elected and was looking forward to getting to work.
“I think we’re going to have a lot of new ideas,” Little said Tuesday. “We’re going to be more open to public input, and we invite the public to get involved in our decisions.”
Fuentes and Little will both have to balance their full-time jobs with serving on the council.
Fuentes works as a program manager at the Vancouver-based nonprofit Fourth Plain Forward.
He said he hopes to bring an ability to build relationships and work collaboratively with his fellow councilors and other elected officials to the council.
“I was a planning commissioner for five years in the city of Hillsboro (Ore.). So I hope to bring some of that experience, some of that skill set, to this county council and dig a little bit deeper into our planning process,” he said. “Protecting our environment and our natural resources is important for me.”
While he wouldn’t consider himself an expert in resource management, Fuentes said it is something he cares about passionately.
Little serves as director of public policy at Ducks Unlimited, a nonprofit dedicated to conserving waterfowl habitat. He said his experience in natural resource management and planning will guide his work on the council.
“I just want us to look farther out into the future and plan the community that we all want to have long, long after we’re gone. I think right now, we’re making too many short-term decisions,” Little said.
Little said he wants the council to plan beyond the 20-year time frame specified by the growth management plan.
“That’s a fragment of time in Clark County’s history,” he said.
Fuentes and Little put the time between the election and the first council meeting of the year to good use. Both attended a three-day training session offered by the nonprofit Municipal Research and Services Center for newly elected officials. Both have also done extensive reading and research on county issues.
“I spent most of that time just reviewing the material that staff put together and just sifting through our website, through the comprehensive plan, learning as much as I possibly can,” Fuentes said. “I’m on information overload right now.”
