Five candidates are seeking an open Bellingham City Council seat in next week’s primary

Five people are competing for the Bellingham City Council’s at-large seat in the Aug. 1 primary, where the two candidates with the most votes will advance to the Nov. 7 general election.

Councilwoman Kristina Michele Martens, the current at-large representative, is running for mayor instead of seeking re-election to the council.

In Bellingham, the at-large seat is a two-year term and the job pays $67,000 annually.

This year’s city and county races are nonpartisan.

All voting is by mail in Washington state.

Ballots must be postmarked — not simply placed in the mail — by 8 p.m. Aug. 1 to be counted. Ballots can also be placed in official ballot drop boxes that will be locked when polling closes.

Here’s how the candidates responded to a Bellingham Herald questionnaire that asked them to list their qualifications, the top three issues facing the city, and how they would solve one of those priorities. Candidates are listed in the order that they appear on the ballot:

Maya Morales

Maya Morales of Lettered Streets is a professional organizer, freelance artist, and founder of WA People’s Privacy, a website that engages “everyday people in effective and strategic self-advocacy, and to build power and organizing capacity in communities in the process.”

Morales has a bachelor’s degree in women’s studies with a focus on race, class and ethnicity and fine art from the University of California at Santa Cruz, and a master’s degree in teaching with a focus on teaching English to those who speak other languages.

“I hope to serve all of Bellingham while also centering those with the greatest immediate need. I don’t think it’s either-or. I know we can create a Bellingham where we all belong. This is about making good, sound, well-researched, fact-based planning and policy choices,” Morales told The Herald.

Morales has an extensive background in organizing and advocacy, including with People First Bellingham, where she worked to pass citywide ballot initiatives for worker and renter rights and ban facial recognition technology and predictive policing software in 2021.

During this year’s state legislative session, she advocated for rent stabilization, renter protections, and mobile home protections for the Washington Low Income Housing Alliance, she said.

Affordable and equitably planned housing, community safety and “meeting people’s unmet needs” are her priorities, Morales told The Herald.

“All three of these issues involve addressing the many intersecting issues we face today in ways that center justice and equity,” she said.

“In order to ensure we prioritize affordable housing, I will push for building equity goals into all planning and code adjustments; bring forward proposals for affordability goals, enforcement of existing laws, negotiations for rent stability with large multi-unit developments, push to explore innovative publicly owned land trust options for housing that help low-wealth people build equity, propose or further solutions to meet immediate needs of people who need rent adjustments and/or supportive housing,” Morales said.

Morales has raised $12,397 for her campaign, according to the state Public Disclosure Commission.

Garrett O’Brien

Garrett O’Brien is president of Volonta Corp. of Bellingham, a general contractor serving clients in Whatcom, Skagit, and Snohomish counties.

A resident of the Birchwood neighborhood, O’Brien attended Bellingham Schools and earned a bachelor of science degree in construction management from Central Washington University.

“I will work on increasing housing options across all income levels, improving safety and business conditions downtown, and increasing public engagement in policy-making,” O’Brien told The Herald.

He served two terms on the city’s Planning Commission and has served on the board of directors for the Building Industry Association of Whatcom County, the Bellingham Home Fund Review Board and on the board of Kulshan Community Land Trust.

O’Brien said that updating the Bellingham Comprehensive Plan to comply with the Washington State Growth Management Act will be a key task before the City Council.

“This update analyzes our land supply, reviews our zoning regulations, and works to make accurate predictions about our future population growth. In undertaking this process, my goal is to obtain accurate information and ensure we have an adequate housing supply and a variety of choices to meet people’s needs,” he said.

O’Brien is endorsed by former Bellingham Mayor Kelli Linville and Port Commissioner Ken Bell.

He’s reported no fundraising to the state Public Disclosure Commission.

Paul Schissler

Paul Schissler of Fairhaven is a consultant in planning and community development and a co-founder of RE Sources for Sustainable Communities and the Kulshan Community Land Trust.

Schissler, who has a bachelor of science degree in environmental planning from Western Washington University, owns Madrona Community Development and Paul Schissler Associates Inc. in Bellingham, working with governments and nonprofits, he told The Herald in an email.

“I have worked my entire career with governments and nonprofits on public interest projects, program innovation, capital construction, and ongoing funding for public interest facilities and projects,” Schissler said.

He has served on the Whatcom County Housing Advisory Committee, the Bellingham Community Development Advisory Board and the Whatcom County Conservation Easement Program.

Key issues facing the city are affordable housing, “adequate care for those who need care,” and homelessness, he said.

“I believe everyone in Bellingham benefits when we address these three issues and other interrelated problems. When our city and its partners focus on basic issues, our community systems get better, workers get more respect, and homes can become affordable for everyone,” he said.

He said he’d enlist public and private partnerships to address those issues.

“Partners from all five sectors can co-operate: the public agencies can start the process, working with at least one nonprofit, and with grassroots representation at the table early. The charitable sector can encourage those three to figure out projects to benefit the neighborhood, and then the for-profit sector is willing to step up, too,” he said.

Schissler has raised $6,409 for his campaign, according to the state Public Disclosure Commission.

Jace Cotton

Jace Cotton is a vice chair of Whatcom Democrats and campaign director at Community First Whatcom, a grassroots organization that secured a Nov. 7 ballot spot for initiatives to raise the minimum wage and increase renter protections.

Cotton has a bachelor’s degree in political science from Western Washington University and has worked as a paraeducator in public schools.

Most recently, he managed the 2021 Whatcom Democrats’ campaign to retain a progressive seat on the Whatcom County Council and also worked to pass the Bellingham voter measures that banned law-enforcement use of facial recognition technology and keep city money from being used to deter union activity.

Those issues are among his priorities: affordable housing, public health and safety, and expanding child care.

“The cost of living crisis, especially housing, is the root of so many problems. We need to act with urgency to fast-track basic renter protections already working in other Washington cities, like capping predatory fees, and create more opportunities to build, own, and rent affordable housing,” he told The Herald.

In 2022, he managed the Whatcom Democrats’ campaign to flip the 42nd Legislative District and elect three Democrats.

In addition, Cotton led last November’s effort to get every vote counted and secure a win for the countywide Proposition 5, the Healthy Children’s Fund.

He’s listed as a “certified Democrat” by the Whatcom Democrats and is endorsed by the Bellingham Tenants Union, the Riveters Collective, the Communications Workers of America Local 37083, the 42nd District Democrats and the Young Democrats of WWU.

He has the support of elected leaders such as Martens, whose seat he is seeking. He’s further backed by County Council members Carol Frazey, Barry Buchanan and Todd Donovan, 42nd District state Sen. Sharon Shewmake, D-Bellingham, and 40th District state Reps. Debra Lekanoff, D-Bow, and Alex Ramel, D-Bellingham.

Cotton has raised $13,374 for his election bid, according to the state Public Disclosure Commission.

Russ Whidbee

Russ Whidbee of the Birchwood neighborhood is a financial adviser and a member of the Bellingham Planning Commission.

He has a bachelor’s degree in accounting from City University of Seattle, is an adjunct faculty member teaching accounting at Whatcom Community College and a personal financial adviser for LPL Financial.

In addition, he is an emeritus member and former president of the Bellingham Technical College Foundation, a member of the Whatcom County Board of Equalization that hears property assessment valuation appeals, is co-founder and former co-chair of the Brothers and Sisters of Whatcom for local Black residents.

Whidbee told The Herald that housing affordability, homelessness, drug addiction and climate change are among the city’s most pressing issues.

“Our housing affordability issue can and must be addressed by our City Council. I believe there are three main avenues to accomplish this. First, as a City Council member, I would bring back the Public Development Authority, so that buildings can be built, without such a large profit by developers. This can allow for permanent affordability to be required and attached to the building. It could also require living wages and Project Labor Agreements be used in construction,” he told The Herald.

Whidbee has also served on the citizen advisory boards of the Bellingham Police Department and Bellingham Public Schools, which advises on strategic planning and levies.

He’s also been part of the Racial Justice Coalition and its subcommittee, the Birchwood Food Desert Fighters and the Whatcom County office of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

“I believe our city can better support the land trust model that supports what I like to call equity squared. Equity for historically impacted and marginalized groups, such as Black people, like myself, and equity for those groups in the form of home-ownership and wealth creation,” he said.

“Lastly, I believe that our city needs to ask private developers to include affordability in exchange for upzones, or parking variances and density bonuses. As an accountant and financial manager, I believe in providing actual solutions that are founded in economic justice and reality,” Whidbee said.

Whidbee has endorsements from LiUNA! Local 292, the Commercial Fisherman’s Association of Whatcom County, the Guild of Pacific Northwest Enployees, IBEW Local 191 and the United Steelworkers.

He has raised $10,716 for his election bid, according to the state Public Disclosure Commission.