The new year will bring a new Clark County Council and a shift in the political makeup of the five-member board. With District 4 candidate Matt Little holding a steady lead of just 57 votes, it appears this narrow race is complete. Votes still need to be certified on Nov. 26, but on Friday, Little said he had heard from his opponent Joe Zimmerman.
“I can’t say that we won until it’s certified, because the vote is so close, but all indicators are that I have, and Joe called to congratulate us on the win,” Little said.
Little and Zimmerman signed paperwork with the county on Friday to forgo a hand recount of ballots. The decision will save Clark County around $50,000, according to Clerk Greg Kimsey. Because the race is so close, a machine recount will still take place on Dec. 2, but that’s unlikely to change the results.
“Going back to the early 1980s there has never been a recount in Clark County that has changed the results,” Kimsey said. “In August, we completed the second largest manual recount in the history of the state. Out of 137,000 ballots, we had a variance of seven. In addition, that recount showed the voting system hardware and software were 100% accurate. And the variance of seven was the result of human error.”
Zimmerman could not be reached for comment.
A new Clark County Council including Little and newcomer Wil Fuentes is likely to mark a progressive shift in perspectives. While council seats are technically nonpartisan, outgoing council Chair Gary Medgivy and Councilor Karen Dill Bowerman have both previously run as Republicans. Medvigy, Bowerman and sitting Councilor Michelle Belkot are all listed as Republican elected officials on the website of the Clark County Republicans.
Fuentes, who declared victory in the District 3 race earlier this month, was endorsed by several Democratic groups.
Little is the policy director for the conservation group Ducks Unlimited. He considers himself an Independent, however, his endorsements included progressive group FUSE Washington, and he was listed in the Washington Progressive Voters guide. Little noted that he was also endorsed by the Mainstream Republicans of Washington as well as realtors and builders groups.
“I think there’ll be some new and more progressive ideas coming from the county council,” Little said. “I think the shift is a new one that’s been coming for a long time.”
This new leadership is also likely to change the county’s relationship with the city of Vancouver. The county and city have been at odds, as recently as during the November election, over issues like how to fund law enforcement.
Shortly before the election, the Clark County Council publicly voiced concerns that the city’s effort to hire more police would create extra costs for county services like courts and the jail. Soon after, Vancouver’s Proposition 4 levy failed to get enough support from voters. The Clark County Council then proposed its own public safety levy to fund the sheriff’s department next February.
The dynamics between the county and its cities are likely to change with the new makeup of the council, according to Vancouver Mayor Anne McEnerny-Ogle.
“All of us have been working with Matt and Wil [Fuentes] both, on issues from law enforcement to homelessness and housing,” McEnerny-Ogle said. “We’re so very excited that they want to work together and collaborate.”
Little said priorities for him include affordable housing construction, addressing homelessness, and environmental concerns including cleaning up Lacamas and Vancouver Lakes and remediation of Camp Bonneville.
“I think that we’ll work closer as friends and partners on trying to tackle some of these issues,” he said.
Those priorities will have to be addressed as the county contends with an $11.7 million budget shortfall going into next year.
