Kira Erickson reports for the South Whidbey Record on the Langley municipal elections.
One of the last people to register during the 2023 candidate filing period in Island County, Langley Mayor Scott Chaplin decided not to file for his current position but that of another elected official.
Chaplin will challenge Langley Councilmember Craig Cyr for his seat on the council this November.
Chaplin has served as the city’s mayor since 2021, when he similarly stepped forward at the last moment to fill a vacancy left by Tim Callison.
He originally filed to run for a seat on the council in 2021 but gave that up to become mayor, which he said seemed like an easier path forward at that time since he didn’t have to run a campaign.
They Said It
“It certainly changes the campaign plan,” Cyr said. “I certainly plan to vigorously defend my seat, and I think the Langley electorate certainly believed in me and voted for me in 2019.”
“I think I have the backbone to call out other council members when need be or the mayor when they’re out of their lane,” he said, adding that a most recent example of this is when he questioned Chaplin’s focus on water efficiency goals, rather than storage of city records.
“I think it’s always tragic when there’s one candidate for the position,” Chaplin said.
Though the recent decrease in salary may have played some part in Chaplin’s decision not to run for mayor, he said he’s looking forward to focusing on creating policy as a council member, rather than the administrative duties of mayor. In his role as a consultant, he believes that he’s had more experience working with local government groups than Cyr, who is a project manager in an avionics group at Boeing.
“My goal would be to make it so that any working parent could afford to pay for child care while they attended city council meetings,” Chaplin said, adding that the $125 per month that was just passed “doesn’t cut it.”
On the Ballot in August 2023
| CITY OF LANGLEY |
|---|
| City Councilmember, Position 3 Kay Kenneweg Chris Carlson Incumbent Thomas E. Gill is running for mayor. |
| City Councilmember, Position 4 Scott Chaplin Craig Cyr, the incumbent |
| Mayor Kennedy Horstman Thomas E. Gill Incumbent Scott Chaplin is running for a seat on the city council. |
Candidates are listed in the order in which they will appear on the ballot.
