Editor,

The November ballots are mailed and I want to remind Island County residents that Karla Jacks is running for Island County Commissioner District No. 3.

While her opponent says he is “local” and knows the “islands,” I do not believe he has acquired the developed relationships or community involvement to be presented as an experienced community leader.

This was apparent at a candidate forum last week in Stanwood. Rick Hannold could only rely on his military career in Oak Harbor as the basis for his community leadership experience.

As he proudly cited his 20-year military resume, Hannold did not seem to have a deep understanding of the different cultures among both islands. Much of his perspective was oriented from his viewpoint as a resident of North Whidbey, which is really an extension of Oak Harbor.

While I’m sure Mr. Hannold served the military and his country with great dedication and of course deserves to be recognized for his service, that experience does not necessarily compare to the 20-plus years of community involvement that Jacks demonstrated in this county as a community leader.

Hannold did not list or describe years of belonging to organizations such as the chamber of commerce, the AAUW, Camano Center, YMCA committee, MOPS, Family Resource Coordinator at the Toddler Learning Center in Oak Harbor or as a family coordinator for the Autism Outreach Project.

He seems to assume that his experience as a chief petty officer in the Navy makes him qualified to become a political leader and representative.

I mention Karla’s affiliations because these organizations are led by people in Island County that are the eyes and ears of the citizens of our communities. Island communities are connected through these organizational relationships who understand specifically the many different issues affecting our diverse group of Island residents.

Karla brings 20 years of close community involvement from these relationships to the leadership table. She also has the ability to bring communities together from these affiliations.

Hannold offers ideas of “how government should be,” but never brought a solution-based conversation to his presentation. For example, it’s really easy to cite the Island Transit controversy as a example of bad leadership, but he offers no solution to the issue, and I’m not sure he understands why the transportation issue is so important to people on the south end of both Camano and Whidbey islands.

He just blames bad leadership.

Hannold’s mention of “priority- based budgeting” is a bit inaccurate in that he describes this as an example of how governments can determine priorities to finance programs. Often, this is used as a way for governments to operate their budgets as similar to a profit-oriented private business.

This type of budgeting creates competition between departments that doesn’t necessarily provide more services to the citizens. Hannold does not offer a way for that citizen input to occur, and I submit that running government like a private business doesn’t serve the citizens well.

Jacks earned a Master of Business degree with past accounting and financial responsibilities to multimillion dollar budgeted programs. She has broad experience leading these organizations toward sound financial practices as demonstrated with her success at the Camano Center.

Jacks offers solution-based conversations toward building consensus and collaboration when working through complicated organizational issues. By re-establishing the community councils and creating communication networks across both islands, Karla wants to bring a voice back to Island County residents.

Please remember on election day that Karla Jacks is a voice for all of the communities of Island County. I urge you to vote for Karla Jacks for Island County Commissioner District No. 3

Mike Hilley

Camano Island