(This is the Q & A from The Daily World included are both the questions and answers from me. These are not from the July 22nd article but from my email sent to the reporter requesting the information. I have not included info from the other candidates nor the actual article as I believe The Daily World or Stephens Media holds the rights to those)
Name:
Paul Fritts
Age:
40
Occupation:
Deputy Sheriff, Grays Harbor Sheriff’s Office
Leadership experience: (Roles where you’ve had leadership, including elected positions you’ve held. Please don’t list every board or panel you’ve ever been a part of. However, if you’ve been president of a certain board that would make sense to include)
Aberdeen City Council
Past Council Chairperson Finance Committee
Current Council Chairperson Public Safety Committee
Previous Shop Steward Teamsters Local 252
Education:
Aberdeen High School
Grays Harbor College (Criminal Justice)
C.J.T.C. Law Enforcement Academy
Q1: The city of Aberdeen faces another tough budget year. What is your highest priority action that you think would help fix it?
There are no stand-alone actions that will help the budget. Solving our budget problems will involve doing even more to increase the efficiency of city government, finding ways to increase revenue through the expansion of business and finding more creative ways to stretch every cent within all areas of city government.
Over the past few years the city of Aberdeen has increased efficiency to a degree out of necessity. The loss of revenue has meant positions vacated through retirement or other reasons have gone unfilled. However, we can do more. It may mean the combining of departments and most likely will mean the continuation of doing more with less.
Expanding/increasing business is not as simple. Government does not create business. However, government does have the ability to create an environment that makes starting or keeping businesses easier. This would include but not be limited to cleaning up dilapidated areas of downtown, keeping interactions with city government positive, reviewing current taxes and fees and improving the city’s infrastructure.
Q2: Complaints have emerged in recent years about the homeless population in downtown Aberdeen, but the council has been hampered by passing more restrictive ordinances because of First Amendment restrictions. Still, some things have been done. For instance, the police chief recently installed a sign at a few intersections encouraging drivers to give money to charities instead of panhandlers. Do you think the city has acted appropriately when it comes to dealing with the homeless and what would you do as mayor to address this issue?
The problem in downtown is not a homeless issue. The term “homeless” includes a wide variety of people with differing circumstances which brought them to that point. I believe what some classify as a “homeless” is actually a problem with a certain element of people. Specifically those who choose to violate laws governing use of alcohol, open containers, loitering, etc. Currently many citizens do not feel safe going to certain areas of downtown because of this element.
At different times of the day one can find those who are intoxicated stumbling through downtown, sitting on the sidewalk drinking alcohol, urinating along city streets, harassing other citizens and generally creating different problems. To date the city has done little to solve the problem.
A few signs will not solve the issue. What is needed is aggressive enforcement of currently existing laws and providing law enforcement the tools necessary to do this. What has failed to happen so far is the allowance of APD officers the time and man power to dedicate to the problem. This does not mean adding more officers to the PD but allowing the police the latitude to dedicate officers to the area on a more than an occasional basis. This will take some creative thinking, patience and a bit more dedicated funding on the part of the mayor to allow this action to take place.
To me the benefit of this action would be increased foot traffic downtown which would hopefully lead to increased business in the downtown area.
Q3: What is your vision for the city of Aberdeen’s waterfront?
My vision of Aberdeen’s waterfront would be an area developed into a place locals and tourists alike would seek out. This area would include activities for a variety of interests. I realize many within Aberdeen share the same vision. However, since the entire waterfront included in this vision is privately owned it will take convincing the current owners to invest in developing this area or to find those with the funds available to purchase and develop the properties. The city has already rezoned this area to allow this to occur. It now will take those private individuals with a vision to get involved.
