by ROSS COYLE
Sequim Gazette
The Sequim City Council appointed Genaveve Starr to fill Don Hall’s vacant council seat Monday night by a vote of four to two.
A resident of Sequim since 1971, Starr has served with a number of social causes including the Girl
Scouts and the Dungeness Watershed Committee. She also is a founding member of the Blue Whole Gallery and the Peninsula Scribes, and has served as a communications director for the local League of Women Voters chapter, where she worked on the chapter’s newsletter and website.
Starr, a professional graphic artist, worked for seven years as a calligraphy instructor at Peninsula College. She also has worked in administrative and clerical positions around Clallam and Jefferson counties, such as clerking and administration.
She says that her best attributes are her cooperation, patience and open mindedness. She hopes that this will serve her in situations such as the city growth, which has several sides to many issues.
“If we have potential for a big box store coming in, some of the citizens would have objections to that because they want to keep the small town,” she says, “while other citizens would say ‘oh, I want to shop there.’ The key would be to find what works well for Sequim.”
Among the issues she says she hopes to help the the city with, the economy is near the top of her list.
“The city’s OK financially right now,” she says, “but with the tax intake down they’re going to have to be careful with money.” She says that it’s going to be important for the city to work within its financial means until the economy stabilizes.
She also said she hopes to see the city expand its natural park resources and green spaces. “There’re very few real green spaces left in Sequim now,” she says, “and we’re fortunate to have Carrie Blake Park.” Starr would like to see the city eventually develop a garden park as a quieter alternative to Carrie Blake. Furthermore, Starr wants to keep an eye on climate change’s impact on the city.
Starr said she hopes to leverage the diverse backgrounds of Sequim’s residents to solve community problems. One such problem is increasing communication between the citizens and councilors and she thinks that the city council could draw on the community more for possible solutions.
“The people here have a wealth of experiences and they could be a resource to help us with problems we might encounter,” she says.
She wants to get involved in local politics because of its impact on citizens and she feels “a responsibility to give back to the community.” She says that giving back to the community is the willingness to serve the city and taking responsibility for dealing with issues it faces.
