Dear Editor:

Friends: those of us who live, work and have chosen Forks as our forever home have an important decision to make Nov. 7, 2017, the future of Forks depends on that decision.

We have two candidates for the position of Mayor of our town and there are significant differences between the two.

One of the two is a lifelong resident, born, raised, works here and has served this community in many volunteer functions, organizations while raising his family here as well. One who is dedicated to seeing this community into the future, helping us to grow and prosper while maintaining our community’s goal to retain an affordable standard of living, as much as we can, given the state of affairs nationwide.

One who has goals to develop plans which will give our community a standing we once had, by working with limited resources, but with a community with a can-do attitude. One who will develop partnerships with other governments, tribal, city, and state while keeping our own identity and control of our destiny, one who will work with city staff and one who has made a promise to restructure the police department to provide once again, a commitment to protect and serve. One who is already spending hours with city staff and getting a close-up look not only at the finances of our city but our infrastructure issues as well.

The other candidate for mayor should be commended for his volunteering for a city council position, however, the manner in which he perceives his role as to the function of city government, as well as the future of the city, is very troubling. He has publicly stated that he believes the city finances are in dire straits even though a thorough review of the financial situation of the city does not substantiate his claims.

Further he has stated that it is his position that the sewer system, which now serves the inter-core of the city must be expanded to envelop the entire city, and quotes the dollar amount listed in the City’s Comprehensive plan which spans a 20-year period, while not addressing the impact to all the homeowners who will be faced with not only the cost of connections to the future sewer, or the monthly cost, or the cost for upgrade of the existing plant.

If we have current working septic systems, why would we burden homeowners with this plan, why would we plan to invest thousands in a system without a driver to do so? If any large scale business should deem it feasible to relocate to our city, why not address that issue at that time?

Further, even though he has denied the comment, where does he stand on contracting our law enforcement out to the county? Are he and his preferred candidates for council just waiting to make this move until they have control?

These are just some of the reasons for realizing that this November’s election is more than just another election, it is critical to make our voices heard for our and our children’s futures.

I know there are conflicting opinions out there about many of the issues noted above in this letter and aren’t we fortunate to have the right to disagree with our friends and neighbors? However, as a final note, we (Captain R and I) are going to vote for Tim Fletcher for Mayor, we believe he really cares for our community and will work for all of us, not just a choice few with a not so hidden agenda.

Sincerely, Nedra Reed

Forks