With the November 2023 General Election less than two months away, candidates for Ocean Shores City Council Position 4 met at the Lions Club Wednesday evening to address issues facing the city and make their pitch to voters for the seat.

Candidates were queried on economic development, healthcare, waterways and other topics before a crowd of about 50 people. The forum was hosted by citizens’ advocacy group Voice of the Shores and moderated by Gina Rawlings.

Wednesday marked the third time Alison Cline and Caroline Emmert have participated in forums this year, and Ocean Shores voters might be familiar with the candidates for another reason: the race for Position 4 was the only city race included in the Aug. 1 primary ballot, when Cline, the incumbent, led with 53% of the vote and Emmert followed with 24%, edging Jennifer Herboldsheimer out of the race by 27 votes.

Cline was appointed unanimously by the city council to her current seat in January 2022, filling a vacancy created when Jon Martin took over as mayor following the death of Crystal Dingler. She said she’s worked with all members of the city council on various committees, and highlighted projects such as the High Dune Trail and Oyehut Ditch clearing as important work she’s supported.

She has been active as a volunteer with different events around Ocean Shores since moving to the city in 2015.

“I’m very passionate about Ocean Shores,” Cline said in an opening statement Wednesday. “We have done a lot of work, and I want to continue to work for the people of Ocean Shores. I listen to people, I talk with people in the community all the time. I have people call me, I see them out and about. I hear their concerns. Does everybody have the same position on everything, no … listening to all of those people and coming back, being able to take all that information, put it together and vote for different things that come up.”

After moving to Ocean Shores two years ago, Emmert became involved in different community organizations, and the town “welcomed me with open arms,” spurring her to run for office.

“I’ve learned that not everybody’s happy with the way Ocean Shores is being run,” Emmert said. “I decided ‘you know what, maybe it’s time I serve my city.’ Granted, I’ve never served on a city council before, but anybody who’s ever sat in one of those chairs always had their never-did-it-before moment. I’m a pretty smart cookie — I can learn.”

Economic development

Questions about how to bring new businesses and economic growth to Ocean Shores have taken prominent roles in candidate’s forums this election cycle.

Cline noted several new businesses popped up in Ocean Shores recently, including a thrift store, food trucks and Italian and Mexican restaurants.

Cline said marketing would be key to bringing in new businesses, and participation in Greater Grays Harbor Inc., a regional economic development council and chamber of commerce, and potentially the formation of a small business association, could boost that effort.

“I think we’re at a point to just keep growing,” Cline said.

Emmert said developing a local chamber of commerce is the city’s “strongest avenue for encouraging businesses to grow,” also noting, “I understand there’s history and people are wary of promoting a chamber of commerce.”

“A chamber of commerce does more than just try to bring in new businesses,” Emmert said. “They’re there to support the local business to grow, to encourage them to intermix with each other and help each other.”

She said such an organization “could go a long way toward making more and better use of the convention center,” Emmert said, noting she only identified six events currently listed on the Convention Center’s calendar.

Citizen involvement

One question asked of the candidates was if they would continue the monthly “city chats,” a public information session hosted by the mayor and featuring city staff or outside experts, usually focused on a specific topic.

Emmert said city chats are “great for citizen engagement,” but when the format changed from an open discussion to a presentation style, “that was kind of a weird direction to take that.”

“I also think that a town hall style of meeting could be used for something major coming up so we could inform the citizens that ‘this is happening and this is what the council is talking about’” Emmert said, adding that the model could’ve been employed for the city’s failed bond initiative last November.

Cline said she would continue the city chats, but would increase that amount of time for dialogue between city officials and the public.

She recalled positive experiences at the former “council chats,” which featured conversations with three council members at a time.

“I think it’s really important that we create a setting to where we can have that back and forth engagement,” Cline said.

Waterways, Oyehut ditch

One question asked candidates about how they would propose to fund future fresh waterways restoration, including maintenance of the Oyehut ditch. The city owns 23 miles of fresh waterways and lakes, but invasive plants and algae blooms have degraded their condition.

Cline said the city should target grants specific to climate-affected areas, such as those for erosion control.

“Do I want to increase your taxes to clean up the waterways? Absolutely not,” Cline said.

But before the city can secure grants for its waterways, Cline said completing the waterways master plan, which the council recently budgeted for, should be a priority.

“Our waterways were swamps, and they’re just trying to go back to what they were. It takes a lot of work to keep them clean,” Cline said.

Emmert agreed that setting a master plan in place would be a good first step towards addressing the waterways, and the city could use the help of the Grays Harbor Conservation District.

She said the conservation district could also help secure grants for future maintenance of the Oyehut ditch, which serves as a key stormwater drainage course.

“There’s always a way to find some money,” Emmert said.

The city recently completed a project clearing decades worth of debris from its mud in order to curtail flooding, but regular maintenance will be required to keep future floods at bay.

Cline highlighted the importance of the ditch-clearing project, and said the city should pursue grants to keep it clean, preceded by updates to the city’s waterways master plan and stormwater master plan.

Healthcare

Bringing better healthcare, specifically an urgent care clinic, to Ocean Shores has been a talking point of several candidates for city office in this year’s election and in years past. Some say the city should facilitate bringing an urgent care clinic to the town while others say that duty falls outside the responsibility of municipal government.

One question Wednesday evening asked candidates to weigh in on the subject.

“We have to do something to get medical services here in Ocean Shores,” Cline said. “Right now our fire department is our urgent care, and they’re too busy.”

She said the city should research grants to pay for medical services and explore partnerships with other groups to provide healthcare, and that providing mental health services should also be part of the conversation.

Emmert said she’s been involved with the effort to bring healthcare to Ocean Shores since she became a resident.

“It’s like pulling dead teeth,” Emmert said. “You have people who are supposed to be advocating for us and they turn a dead ear to anybody who says ‘what about us.’”

Emmert said that “citizens, not just the city council” should engage in the effort to bring an urgent care clinic to Ocean Shores, “at the very least.” She said the city should inquire with the Department of Agriculture, as well as large medical providers, about grants for funding the clinic.

Cline exits

After 90 minutes of cordial conversation about city issues Wednesday night, the forum ended abruptly when Cline left the forum early following an altercation with the audience.

Moments earlier, a member of the audience made an audible comment while Cline answered a question about spending taxpayer dollars, which caused Cline to stop mid-sentence.

“I’m done,” Cline said to the room at the Lions Club. “I have sat here, I have watched people laughing in the back and having conversations, and I’ve watched this. I’m done. I am here to talk about what I want to do for this town, and that kind of stuff is so not okay.”

She stood and addressed the audience.

“I love this city, but I will not tolerate the stuff that has gone on on Facebook, and the questions that have been put forward here tonight are not okay,” Cline said, alluding to highly-charged political bashing that has consumed Facebook posts and groups this election cycle.

A round of applause from some members of the audience followed.

In an interview, Cline said a series of disconcerting interactions with the audience throughout the night caused her to leave early, including several members of the audience laughing and pointing as she delivered her answers.

Cline also expressed concern that questions asked during the forum — specifically those about opinions on whether or not a code enforcement officer should carry a firearm and elected officials entering businesses and making threats — were derived directly from posts on Facebook.

Rawlings, who has moderated each of the three candidates forums hosted by Voice of the Shores at the Lions Club in the last month, said all questions were gathered by surveying the public in parking lots of local businesses. Rawlings has compiled the questions on paper notes and asked candidates to draw them from a fishing creel to randomize their order of presentation during the forum.

Rawlings has stated before each of the forums that the events are not an endorsement of either candidate.

Rawlings, who was seated on the stage with the candidates during the forum, said she did not observe the behavior that caused Cline to exit.

“That’s not anything I would condone,” she said. “Anybody that was doing that would’ve been asked to leave.”

After Cline left the room, Rawlings prompted Emmert to continue with a five-minute closing statement.

“I want to cry for Alison, I feel bad for Alison, because this is hard,” Emmert said. “We have to be off the cuff with our responses, folks. We need you to be grown ups and take care that we have the opportunity for our voice.”

She closed by telling the audience to “put your differences aside. Come together as citizens, as one group of people who love their city and want the best for their city. Please, put aside your differences and put the ugliness away. It’s time.”

Emmert and Cline will meet again this Saturday, Sept. 23 for another forum beginning at 12:30 p.m., followed by a forum featuring Position 6 candidates P.J. Faria and Richard Wills at 30 p.m. at the Ocean Shores Library. The forums are hosted by Friends of the Library.

Voice of the Shores plans to host another forum on Wednesday, Sept. 27 between Position 2 city council candidates Bob Peterson and Tom Taylor.

Contact reporter Clayton Franke at 406-552-3917 or clayton.franke@thedailyworld.com.

Alison Cline, an incumbent candidate for Position 4 on the Ocean Shores City Council, speaks at a forum hosted by Voice of the Shores at the Ocean Shores Lions Club on Wednesday, Sept. 20. (Clayton Franke / The Daily World)

Caroline Emmert, candidate for Position 4 on the Ocean Shores City Council speaks at a forum hosted by Voice of the Shores at the Ocean Shores Lions Club on Wednesday, Sept. 20. (Clayton Franke / The Daily World)