Jean Melious best choice for Whatcom County Council seat

Being a Whatcom County council person is a difficult and time-consuming job. The countless number of issues faced by the council include union contracts, land-use laws, financial deficits, planning for the long-term health and prosperity of our community and even dealing with constituents' issues.

We believe citizens of the county will be best served by electing Jean Melious to join the council this year.

The District 1, Position B, seat is on the ballot this year because former councilman Bob Kelly resigned from the position. His seat is currently being held temporarily by Ward Nelson, who will step down after this election.

Melious has a background in all the community's thorniest issues. She has worked for many years as a land-use attorney dealing with everything from water quality to rules around the Endangered Species Act. Since 1996 she has taught classes at Western Washington University about many of these same issues things.

And she has already put this knowledge to work for the community, currently serving as a member of the Whatcom County Planning Commission.

In addition, Melious has an attitude of inclusiveness. She told our board she believes there is a middle ground in a lot of the community battles and she said she wants to help find that balance. Doing so, she said, will allow our community to make decisions that don't just end up in protracted court battles after they are made.

We encourage Melious to be more up-front about her stances going into the general election. It's important that voters know everything they are going to get from her as a council member before they cast their ballot.

The entire council needs to be made up of people who thoughtfully come up with solutions to county problems and look forward and not back. Too many of our current council members are interested in re-debating old arguments rather than moving forward.

Melious is joined by Tony Larson and Theresa Sygitowicz in the race for the council seat. The three candidates will be on the August primary election ballot, with the top two moving on to November's general election.

We appreciate that Larson is focused on jobs and job growth in our community. It is something all of our leaders need to be thinking more about. But we found Larson much less interested about some of the other important issues our council must deal with. He seemed not to know a lot about the plans already in place to clean up Lake Whatcom, for example.

Sygitowicz has spent years serving her community as a volunteer firefighter and through positions on flood control districts and other bodies. She should be commended for her tireless efforts on behalf of the people in the South Fork Valley, in particular.

We also appreciate that Sygitowicz tells it like she sees it and promises to do so with respect for everyone. But we believe that Sygitowicz does not understand the complexity of some of issues in the community. About growth, for example, she said that the community needs "sustainable access to our resources, our water and land." While the thought might be nice, her answer showed little understanding of the limits of state law on growth and federal environmental laws.

Melious understands all of this. We believe she is the best candidate for voters to choose in the August primary and again in November.