The My Neighborhood News Network will be preparing local voters for the August 6 primary election and November 5 general election with reports from now through the fall. Here is another of those reports.

Running for local elected office is a difficult test; running for an elected office where the voters are spread out throughout a south county region where precincts aren’t even adjacent to each other is even tougher. But that’s the task ahead for those running for commissioner positions of Snohomish County Fire District 1.

This year, three of the five commission posts are up for election. Incumbent Jim Kenny is running unopposed and will retain his Position 5 seat; incumbent Karen Dingmon will face a challenge from Jim McGaughey, a retired Deputy Chief of the district, in the November general election for Position 4.

Four candidates have filed to run for the Position 1 seat, an office that has two years left in an unexpired term created when former Commissioner Millie Judge resigned to become a Snohomish County Superior Court Judge. The four will face off in the Aug. 6 primary election; the top two vote-getters will be on the ballot for the seat in November.

Campaigning for those necessary votes is complicated in Fire District 1, for although the district serves approximately 200,000 residents of Snohomish County from Everett to the Snohomish-King County border, not all of those residents are eligible to vote for Fire District 1 commissioners. For voters in cities like Mountlake Terrace, Brier, Edmonds and Woodway, Fire District 1 races do not appear on the ballot. (Lynnwood operates its own fire department and is not served by Fire District 1.)

While not officially within the boundaries of Fire District 1, the cities of Mountlake Terrace, Brier, Edmonds and Woodway are serviced by district personnel through contractual agreements. That leaves voters in unincorporated areas of south Snohomish County as the deciders of Fire District 1 commissioner seats, and thus the target audience of commissioner hopefuls on the ballot.

Unincorporated areas of south Snohomish County include the Esperance area between Edmonds and Highway 99, the Alderwood Manor area between Lynnwood and Brier, and areas north of Bothell, north of Lynnwood and around, but not including, Mill Creek.
The four candidates running for Commissioner Position 1 are considering different strategies for reaching voters within what one of the candidates calls “a geographically challenging area.”

Candidate Bob Meador is counting on his experience to impress voters. “Because the race is independent of political party affiliation, it then becomes one of qualifications,” Meador said. “The voter will review their voter’s pamphlet and make an informed decision. Political signs and mailers will have only a small impact.”

Meador is currently serving on the Fire District 1 board, but in Position 4; he is running for the unexpired Position 1 term to make way for Karen Dingmon to run for the No. 4 seat. Meador points to more than nine years of experience on the board (1988-1992, 2007 to the present), five years on the Verdant Health Commission (Snohomish County Public Hospital District No. 2), and 30 years as a firefighter, including a stint as a fire chief for the City of Lynnwood, as qualifications for continuing in a district commissioner post.

Accounting consultant Erica Ash admits her run for Fire District 1 Commissioner will be “very difficult” because of the widespread reach necessary to cover the district and reach its voters.

“I have spent quite a bit of time trying to decide how to introduce myself to the voting members of our community,” Ash said. “I am assuming that my marketing efforts will need to be broad, and I am likely going to need to enlist some professional help to ensure that I’m reaching my target audience and spending my campaign funds effectively.”

“I think my biggest hurdle will be leveraging the non-voting members of the community who have a stake in the outcome of the election as well as to help encourage the voting members to support a candidate that represents their interests,” she added.

Ash has already picked up a key endorsement — from the International Association of Fire Fighters Local 1828 in Fire District 1.

While reaching voters of the district may seem challenging, candidate Mike Luke claims otherwise. “I don’t see it as being all that difficult for me,” he said. “I’ve always felt more familiar and a part of the unincorporated county more that a particular municipality.”

Luke has owned and operated Mike’s Deli Mart in Esperance for 11 years and has lived in the Alderwood Manor area for 20. “The one thing those of us in the unincorporated precincts surrounding cities like Lynnwood, Edmonds, Mill Creek, Mountlake Terrace, Brier and Bothell have in common is Fire District 1,” he said. “These precincts are grouped together in a fairly continuous way except for a small disconnect near Silver Lake, and of course, the precincts in Esperance.”

While Luke will be concentrating his campaign efforts in the unincorporated areas of the south county, he admits that some of his work will likely spill over into areas where voters are ineligible to cast a vote for Fire District 1 Commissioner. “I’m sure I will end up spending some time and resources communicating with folks that reside within city limits, but that’s how it goes for any campaign,” Luke said.

Robert Falla is the fourth candidate running for the district’s Position #1 commissioner seat; he did not respond to inquiries for this article.

Ballots for the Aug. 6 primary election should be arriving in voters’ mailboxes around July 18.

— By Doug Petrowksi