Rachel Rosen reports from the Oak Harbor City Council meeting of Oct. 4, 2022.
During a meeting earlier this month, City Administrator Blaine Oborn presented a list of the city’s top 10 goals that council members had selected out of a total of 32 using a scoring system. However, instead of approving the top 10, council ultimately voted to make all 32 goals priorities.
They Said It
Councilmember Shane Hoffmire wanted to expand the list beyond the 10 items and said all three goals involving the downtown and marina should be combined into one item; Councilmembers Jim Woessner and Eric Marshall agreed.
“We can’t revitalize or expand our downtown or marina without dredging,” Marshall said.
Councilmember Bryan Stucky and Mayor Pro Tem Tara Hizon expressed confusion over the scoring system and how the choices had been ranked.
Stucky said he was surprised that reconstruction of Seventh Avenue did not make the top 10 list and pointed out that some council members didn’t follow the rules in scoring priorities, which skewed the results. He questioned the need for the list itself.
“What’s the point of this?” he asked, going on to say that unless the list would be strictly followed, he didn’t want to spend any more time tweaking it.
Councilmember Dan Evans pointed out the city would have more goals than the 10 listed.
“This is what we agreed so let’s take it and run with it,” he said. “That doesn’t mean we can’t address the other items on the list.”
Hoffmire, Hizon, and Woessner all said they wanted to expand the list to include more than 10 items. Woessner specifically had a problem with the fact that affordable housing was not included.
Hoffmire made a motion to approve the top 19 goals with the top 10 “highlighted.” That motion failed and Woessner said the number 19 seemed arbitrary.
Woessner then made a motion to adopt the entire list of 32 goals. It passed unanimously.
