Incumbent Westport Mayor Rob Bearden and challenger Joseph Whitmore recently met with the Daily World editorial board to discuss Westport’s future, including their takes on a proposed golf course, the city’s new water department building and ownership of the Westport Marina.

“I never thought I’d grow up to run for Mayor of Westport,” said Whitmore, a plumber by trade.

But what he sees as a Westport city government with “a little more power than they should have” prompted him to run.

“It seems like more and more we lose our rights to big business, to government, to policies, and in Westport I see that going on more and more and more,” he said. “In fact, the final straw that broke my back was the $1.2 million building the people of Westport didn’t have a chance to vote on.”

That building is the city’s water department building, which Bearden said should be ready to move in to by the end of October. The old building was damaged in a fire April 28, 2016. Whitmore believes the city could have saved a lot of money by fixing it up rather than building a new one.

“After the fire I had been in that building a number of times and it didn’t look like that much damage. It should have been repaired, but they started tearing it down and now all of a sudden we have this building,” said Whitmore.

“The building was old and we outgrew that,” countered Bearden. “It only had one bay so we couldn’t get any vehicles or equipment in there. Everything was left out in the elements.”

With the amount of smoke damage caused by the fire, Bearden said the city looked into rebuilding before deciding a new building was the way to go. It’s the first new building the city has constructed in a century, said Bearden.

“It was decided by council to take the insurance money and put that toward a new facility that will be something Westport can be proud of for the next 50 to 70 years,” said Bearden.

Whitmore countered, “I think that cities don’t need to be ‘proud’ of anything. They need to be taking care of the day-to-day business of running a city. They don’t need huge buildings to make anybody think they’re anything other of us than the way we act toward the citizens we are supposed to be serving. That makes a city.”

Whitmore believes the city would be best served if it took ownership of the Westport Marina from the Port of Grays Harbor and managed it itself.

“I’d like to check with Ilwaco and see how they broke free of their county-type rule to be the Port of Ilwaco,” he said. “For years we’ve been talking abut getting the Port of Grays Harbor out of Westport. I think it’s better if the city manages it. The city workers need more work. There is a lack of productivity in the maintenance department in this city. There are just too many workers in Westport. I want to make sure this town is successful.”

Bearden completely disagrees the marina would be in better hands outside of the current Port management.

“I think it would be a big mistake,” he said. “I don’t know why the city would want to take on that responsibility when you consider the cost.”

The city taking over the marina and maintaining it with its current staff “would lessen overhead and increase the bottom line with minimal maintenance,” said Whitmore.

As for lack of work for city workers, or Whitmore’s assertion there are too many city workers, Bearden said there are three people total running the water department, four in the streets department and four in the sewer department.

“We’re operating bare bones down there,” said Bearden, “and these people do a lot of work. If you think you can run a city with two or three people, I’d like to see you try it.”

Bearden has spearheaded current efforts to revive ferry service between Ocean Shores and Westport. With his extensive experience in the marine industry, he’s already been looking at possible foot ferry boats and is part of the collaborative effort that involves both cities and Grays Harbor Transit to bring back the service.

“We’ve been talking with the (Quinault Indian) Nation,” which owns the marina in Ocean Shores that, in its current condition, isn’t in any shape to accommodate a ferry landing, “and we’ve been exploring three or four possible landing sites.”

Whitmore said he’d need more information on the city’s responsibility in maintaining the landing to make a decision on its impact to the city. “I know it was greatly missed when it went away and if we can get the right deal I think it’s great, take the people out on the water and have a great time.”

Bearden said the city may have to kick in a little seed money to get the ferry operational, but it would be Grays Harbor Transit that would handle the operations once established.

“We’d just be a recipient on this end,” said Bearden, who thinks the ferry “would be beneficial to both sides economically. There’s been a lot of support all the way up to Seabrook; they would love to take a ferry to Westport and spend an afternoon.”

Plans to develop a Scottish links-style golf course at Westport Light State Park are getting some traction. Whitmore said he would need more information before he could accurately weigh in on the potential project.

Bearden said he thinks the idea would be a positive economic driver for the area and appreciates the way the project’s developers and State Parks have made community education and input a major part of the development process during these, the very early stages of planning.

Summing up, Whitmore said, “I think we need to get more people involved in city government. We have five on the City Council and I believe that any time we make a decision on something, maybe up to discretionary spending up to $75,000, we need to get the people involved. If this is a democracy, let’s do what a democracy does. If it’s a dictatorship, let’s do that, but let’s not be naming a dictatorship a democracy.”

Bearden said he’s always had an open-door policy and “invites everyone in to hear their ideas, good or bad.” Bearden said any time there is an idea for a project in the city he encourages the development of a citizens committee. “We encourage public involvement in everything and have had public involvement in everything we do,” he said.