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Long-form interviews and conversations from Mason County, Washington. Host Jeff Slakey sits down with local leaders, legislators, small business owners, and community voices for unhurried conversations about what's shaping the Hood Canal region — government, education, healthcare, the outdoors, and the people making a difference.
New episodes drop throughout the week. For daily local headlines, subscribe to KMAS Morning News with Jeff Slakey.
Well folks, time for another and it's already here again, candidate conversation. This is for the Shelton City Council position three race. It's because there are four candidates vying for the one spot in the Shelton City Council in race number three.
So the top two will move on through the primary in August to the general election in November. So I have reached out to all four of the candidates for this race. I'm starting to get messages back in and these booked and it's just a great opportunity for me and for us to get a chance to know these candidates whether they're already on the council now or looking to fill that spot here and move through the primary.
I am here with Ken Mobley who is running for this position in the third race. How are you doing? Fantastic, actually fantastic. It's a beautiful day.
It is a beautiful day in Shelton and we'll get into what makes Shelton a great place and all that stuff here as we continue this conversation here. But tell us, tell me just a little bit about yourself, about your background for those who may not know you. Okay, well so to take it back but not all the way back, CC 2016, me and my wife at the time knew we wanted to stay in Washington and we're in California, we're stationed in California at the time.
Been there about eight years, loved it but had a deeper connection with Washington, a deeper love and appreciation for both the natural beauty of Washington and how it felt to live in Washington and we have five kids and it was a place where we felt more comfortable raising our kids and in their future, their stability and so Washington was always kind of a place we looked at to stay in. Took a set of orders to to Bremerton in 2016 to the John C Stennis which was fantastic duty, that's a whole other story, some fantastic sailors but took orders to the John C Stennis as my final set of orders. I made that commute here to Bremerton for for about two years before that ship went on a round the world tour.
Came back, did my last, walked off the brow of that ship for the last time in December 2019 and retired. Some smart people in my circle told me at 20 years, kind of take your money and run, you know, you've secured your nest egg and at 20 years there's a difference at your knees at 40 and your knees at 50. And I had young kids and my marriage was not in a good place at the time and that was very important to me and so in order to stop, sacrificing might be the word, but a better example of it is when I retired my youngest son was 12 and for seven years of his life I was gone.
In that much time away does not really institute the effort I wanted to give to my family. I would tell everybody family was first for me, it was my mantra and so the first opportunity I had to give up a rank, I would have made the top rank in the Navy. It was clear but it was an easy thing to sacrifice for my family and so I got out at 20, you know, put energy and effort into the marriage and even though it did not work I'm grateful for that decision on my part because I can look back without regret knowing that I put effort and time in.
You were talking the talk but you weren't quite at that point walking the walk. Right, until I did. Yeah.
And so I'm grateful for past me for making that decision and it was kind of tough. A lot of sailors would come up to me and they're like, you know, senior chief if you put this retirement package in you know what that happens and and what they're referring to is if I put that request to to retire I would no longer be looked at for advancement. Right.
And you know I looked at these concerned sailors and let them know like hey you know please first assume I know what I'm doing and and second that I've calculated this and reasoned this out and in my perspective in life some of the things that I really look back grateful that I've accomplished came through sacrifice where you or or you have to put significantly of yourself into that process or engagement and when you really invest in yourself you sacrifice for it that's your plan a you put a lot of energy and time into that and for me that was my family and again even though you know my marriage is not quite sustained through COVID and retirement at least I could sit here in the future without regret for that and so yeah so so bought a house in 2016 we got those orders of Bremerton bought a house here in Shelton 2016 it's a fantastic place on Mill Creek Road a lot of amazing memories we had some apple trees up front I have these these springtime about now well no later harvest time playing what I end up referring to as apple baseball with the kids when we just take these apples and baseball bat play baseball with apples and an eight-year-old you see a smile on an eight-year-old's face when they hit a the apple and it and it's one of those moments you look across this field and you see a kid smiling and you got a dog running in the playground you're like okay the choices I've made to get me here yeah I'm good with those and I came here in Shelton and the first day we moved in there was 20 25 or 26 people waiting on a lawn to help us move in wow and unfortunately just four days later I took you know as my ex you know what you get we're not together but I still have respect and a deep love for her very often I would say hey honey I know we just moved entirely across country and all our stuff still in a truck but I see you in six months good luck with all that and this is kind of one of those scenarios we moved we landed on June 4th and on June 8th I was due in Virginia for school for almost three months wow and but but leaving my my my wife you know who I loved and my kids who I love more in my own life in the hands of a community that that many people just showed up they don't know us out of the blue to help us it was it was great and that was my my introduction to Shelton why why so between Bremerton and Shelton there's a lot of places right so why here a fantastic question and it's funny when I would tell people on the ship where I lived they would first first question be where yeah the second would be why yeah and what I would tell them is I would drive that 40 miles home pull into my driveway see my house greeted by my kids and and I'd know why and the way that actually functioned is I took a took Bremerton as a center of at the center dot and I drew a one hour driving circle okay well me and Google yeah yeah yeah driving circle and any house that fit our needs that appeared in that one hour driving circle was up and this amazing house here in Shelton popped up and it's funny Scott Bernard who's well yeah yeah he was my real estate agent and and I still appreciate in all the effort he went in that process I sent him a lot of houses and I would fly into Everett because I was on an inspection team for three years and so I flew quite a few places and one of them was Everett to inspect those ships and so when I was in Everett doing inspections I would dip down take the ferry across coming to Shelton and it's funny I remember the first time I met I met Scott at Taylor station through his suggestion because I didn't know Shelton from anything sure Tom and I pulled in to the parking lot and he just walked right across to me not knowing me from anything and I'm like how'd you know it was me he's like your car was clean so I'm like okay this guy's smart you know he knows what you're looking for yeah uh and then he we sat hopped in his car and he there was a five final houses that these were the ones there's one in McCleary one here one in Seabeck which we didn't end up going I think there might have been one in Tumwater there's quite a few houses and he looked at me in earnestness another moment of of this guy is a thinker right is he's like hey I could waste both of our time and show you all these houses I could show you the one you're gonna buy I'm like hmm and it was amazing I mean long story short that was just amazing house uh it was Richard Snable I bought it from and it was his it was a pastor project of his I still have copies I had copies of the blueprints oh wow right where he showed like the island he said a foot up and two to the left all right so even the exact location the island he had he had negotiated but getting to this house and there's just so many things about Shelton that just were amazing the the real estate agent had a glass of water on the counter and she asked me about three or four times about thirsty and each time I'm like no I'm not thirsty thank you I'm not thirsty thank you and finally I'm like fine let me drink this water that's the most amazing water I've ever drank in my life where did you buy that she's like it came out of your ground and that kind of got me yeah yeah and so so so we're here in Shelton and and since it's just grown it's that there's so many fantastic aspects of this community so many things that that Shelton uniquely has that that I appreciate and a core of it you know unique to me in my circle and post-divorce the kids have been with me a hundred percent and I have this picture of my you know one of my boys graduated Shelton High School last year and I have a picture of him standing with two friends that he got a day after we moved here and as a as a military brat that had never been the case for him yeah they they were always the kids that moved that moved in and they engaged with friendships that the other people had had for 10 12 15 grew up together and they were the friend that was not only coming in late to the game but they knew there was on a timer yeah I've got 18 months this friendship is a 24 month friendship and so seeing my son stand next to these these other two very tall young men after eight years of continuous friendship was like okay that was another one of those moments where it's like okay I've done I've made the right choice and like post-divorce we lived in Olympia for a little bit at an apartment because it was close enough for me to commute yeah and put a zillion hours on my car taking to school and picking up from school and and this game and that that thing well worth it and and then Shelton just kept seeming providing opportunities for me to be more and more comfortable here the opening of the YMCA I think I had a membership a week after they opened that YMCA I was watching that sign for the five yeah seven years it was up right and immediately after they opened and then I had an opportunity I had one and and it was a place my kids were comfortable I work out there it is my my workout home my partner she works there two of my kids work there and it was just another way for this where this community showed that there's a place for everybody not just a place where you can be comfortable and exist but I'm watching my people thrive and and gain and grow and so so yeah that that's a bit of my background yeah originally from Chicago I joined the Navy when I was 19 and and and here I am so retired here in Shelton now I guess almost 10 years I suppose 2016 to now right and have kind of a little more time as being retired you got you kind of get a chance to see how things are shaken out here and this is an interesting opportunity on the Shelton City Council four spots open and so you have put your name into the third council seat was there anything particular about three was it just because that was you flipped a coin or was there something you saw within that seat or whoever was is holding it now currently that you think you could do a better job or what what kind of pushed you over the edge to put your name into the elections office a fantastic question the what put me over the edge to put my name in just in general was that I do have opportunity I did have when I got out I had my degree in computer science applied for some civilian jobs and that process is tough yeah and it was starting to to kind of wear on me and so what I decided to do instead was go to the federal jobs that were recruiting me that would take direct advantage of my 20 plus years because because my my job I was a electronic technician for weapon systems and it was a very demanding skill set or in demand skill set and so had a federal job for a while long story short on that we are all well aware of the news and what has happened with the recent administration and federal jobs and I was a federal contractor who worked remotely as soon as that was being talked about I knew I strongly assumed yeah that that I was pretty low-hanging fruit and sure enough I got that phone call and and so I was in a position you know where I made you know fairly fairly good money and I was in a position where all I had to do is budget and my passive income is sufficient I just have to budget and budgeting it means pursuing a a full-time job wasn't necessary financially but engaging fully in something for me for myself my own mental health and well-being I needed to do and and local local government local politics local community is the best place to start if you want to have a positive impact kind of continue that service above self that you had in the navy things and thank you right I do have a lot of familiarity of being put in in unusual situations being being placed in tough spots where maybe you don't have enough money or resource or time or yeah or whatever may be and getting uh when I retired from the stentish I was in charge of about 300 sailors and and thousands of pieces of equipment and fleet of aircraft carrier is a floating city there's 6200 people on a full at full capacity 6200 to 6400 at full capacity and and they need clean water they need their waste managed they need power they need communications and and being a a high-level leader there I have a lot of history in and how do you integrate logistics for that many people how as a service provider in that community because being in charge of the the department I was in you know we had all the the radars and the communication equipment any way you communicate an honor off the ship and any way you navigated the ship other than the eyeballs that the sailors were born with any other visual equipment or sighting equipment was ours and so having a lot of familiarity with that in in service you know going where the country needs you uh they had three deployments to the war uh multiple deployments down south for counter drug operations and and so I'm used to doing what what is needed for for a greater good than myself and so it translates easily into local government where it's attainable if you have in in a town the size of Shelton true impactful change is possible you can have an ambition to improve something and actually see the fruits of your effort in in the smaller community which I appreciate and and to the question of why position three one it perhaps it's the hardest race it's only one that's going to a primary yeah I'm okay with that simply because something is hard isn't to me a justifiable excuse to avoid it in fact sometimes the hardest thing to accomplish is the best thing to do that way you can look back having sacrificed a little bit and said I did everything I could you know my efforts weren't sufficient and and I'm okay with that how much sorry no I was just going to wonder how much of leading up to in your time in Shelton have you been kind of going to the meetings watching online or reading the minutes kind of getting a sense of over these 10 last year nine eight years whatever kind of where the city trajectory has been how have you how have you been doing that so for probably the first six years I was here there was a lot of focus just just internally yeah um as I mentioned you're going through you say going through divorce was going through a desire to save a marriage um because commitment's important to me and and if I was going to step away from that significant of a commitment I needed to look back and say I did everything I could and then post you know post our separation as I mentioned my kids have have 100% live with me you know not trading weekends or anything and so that was really where my time yeah effort and attention was as well as working full-time and for a period I had my real estate license as well but as my kids have grown older increasingly independent you know they all have jobs they're all engaged in school which as a father is a fantastic thing to look at and see my my time has been more available and probably past three years starting to increase engagement in community go out to local things and eat locally and talk to local people and and as that's happened as you engage locally you start to hear what what concerns people have what what they're seeing happen what they they like they don't like and as I was starting to hear these things it it struck me again that in a small community one you can make a difference but two not everybody's outfitted to be capable of doing that as I engage you know with you know all swaths of political affiliation particularly during this campaign engagement during my candidacy I recognize a lot of people who are highly active in in making things happen are older they they skew older because they're retired because their kids are grown and their kids have kids and they are financially independent and capable of engaging and putting effort that this kind of process would truly require in my opinion yeah and since not having that obligation to do a 40-hour work week or whatever it may manifest as I can put ostensibly 40 hours into this and so that was a big one recognizing that I had the time the capability and this this contemplation has been going through my head for a little while possibly running and then as soon as I got that phone call it's like okay let me see what this really looks like and that's when I started attending meetings and looking at minutes and and and you know looking at budgets and past so answer your question in earnest probably last six months six eight months sure but in interest probably the last three years I've been looking I mean these last six to eight months have not been without any you know big issues happening in the city there's always things going on and there's I'm sure some of your top priorities like what would you consider if you had three pillars or a handful of things that you are focused on making better what are some of those what are those goals I guess what would be to latch on that concept of pillars I kind of have four four things that I've I've found important to me as I've tried to distill how I feel one of them is is economic growth if you look at our kind of the city finances it even if we maintain as we are we're going to be broke soon we're getting into our general fund and so we can't maintain as is right now which is a concern of course it is anybody looking at their budget and saying hey I'm going to be broke in two years and currently I don't have a path a recognized path to cause that not to happen yeah that's pretty significant not just on its face but as well you can't have strategic vision if you don't have enough to even sustain today you can't look a month from now when you don't know what tomorrow is going to look like so that's significant I love Shelton it's given so much to me and I would like to sustain I would like it to to not just have enough money to exist tomorrow but have enough money to say hey in five years I would like we can increase we can expand that's a that's a component doing that however sustainably one of our greatest resources is that we are on an olympic peninsula that we have this just natural environment in which we're in and so that economic growth to increase revenue I would like to see it done in harmony with with our natural beauty in the natural environment leadership that is transparent and accountable is another pillar I would personally identify if if if I sit as a you know where I to to to win the seat gain the trust of the residences of Shelton and and and be chosen to steward that position I would take it very seriously that I'm not representing myself I'm sitting there in lieu of every citizen in Shelton because all 10,000 of us can't show up to every meeting and every engagement everything right and so the more I represent who I represent the better I represent who I represent and that's part of that transparent accountable leadership accountable to everybody not the people I like not my echo chambers not the ones that share maybe even just a narrow focus of an issue but all and then youth education engagement would be my fourth pillar of course my kids I just went actually my my grandson had a baseball game recently and you know went to milicevania state park which if not it's amazing that's one of the places where if if no if if if you have somebody who's never been in a natural setting take them there yeah it just feels it's the big trees a little bit of everything a little bit of everything and they got a beer garden there and an ice cream spot and the water's fantastic but you know looking at my kids I know they're the future and and tied in in this pillar you know in the youth I look at my my youngest daughter and she's had a a sustained relationship she's just she's graduating this year and she's had a sustained relationship it's a high school relationship so it's been a little about a year and a half which is like 30 years of marriage exactly in high school in high school years a long time it is a long time but he's smart and you know he's you know he's hard working and she's intelligent hard working and has ambition but say they they do maintain a relationship and decide to start a small family they can't do that in Shelton reasonably outside of my roof right because there isn't affordable housing for a young 20s family to raise a family and start so I would love to see that and that's another core component of what I would like to see is is affordable housing and the term sounds tough to hear especially in a rural place like Shelton but dense urban affordable housing not slapdash just any kind of apartment anywhere works but something that is attractive to to that young couple that my my daughter and possibly her boyfriend would turn into that are trying to grow a life to have a place that's attracted to them comfortable to them that they can afford and and and so doing increase the revenue locally attract other businesses to invest in Shelton so so yeah if I was to identify pillars those would be how do you do that as one of seven on the council you have to fantastic question if you're one of seven in anything and all seven voices have to come together to move a point forward it's you asked me earlier we had kind of a conversation about signs yeah you know in a similar strain if if I go in like signs I don't think represent me well I would prefer to get out and meet all 10,000 some odd Shelton residents and be able to sit in a living room and talk with them and share you know share tea and and connect and converse I would love to be able to do that that's I don't know if that's a capability I will have before election day right it's a daunting concept there's a lot of people there's a lot of people right I can do that with the the city council members we don't have to agree on every detail of how something's accomplished but the more we agree the more we we have bridges interpersonal between ourselves and the council the better we could talk amongst ourselves the better we can come to the community a community decision yeah my brief answer on that how do you do that as one of seven is if I'm presenting a a goal that I have that I think is beneficial to the city then it's incumbent on me to first most important research engage with city residents and find out if that's something that that's amenable to them and then do my research and that way when I talk to my fellow city council members I can do it in a researched informed way in which I can gain their buy-in and so the short answer how do you do that with one of seven is together and that's the only way where do you see or what what are your thoughts on what you're seeing in downtown around the brewer park area with the homelessness situation these past couple council meetings have been very passionate yes but from folks on their thoughts on both sides of this issue and there's been some studies done and some groundwork being laid by the council but it seems as though maybe some of that's not going to be implemented you know some of the work that they've done task force things like that yes so where where do you lie on the services available for folks who are struggling in our community versus kind of what other folks would say as kind of the traditional the traditional view of Shelton being kind of a you know it's cleaned up and there wouldn't be folks living in the parks and things like that how do you how do you square those two things there's a lot there and that's a question yeah and it's easily it's easily the thing right now right now it's a hot button issue and it deserves to be uh business owners downtown are frustrated justifiably citizens that want to enjoy the beautiful downtown's beautiful here yeah uh are frustrated uh justifiably and understandably the people in brewer park are frustrated justifiably and understandably my feeling on the whole thing is that i do on face i disagree with that ordinance because to me it seems like it criminalizes poverty uh the a lot of things that were raised as concerns by people who showed up the city council are viable um human waste and vagrancy and theft and yeah and all those things but my account of that those are already illegal i mean we already have systems to address those um you can't arrest yourself out of this problem it's not a thing and and are economically vulnerable are what a some a very intelligent person kind of identified as as our canaries in the coal mine we are in a difficult place economically as a country as a globe and the the impoverished population of the canaries in the coal mine they are letting us know that hey tough economic times are coming and my belief in community is that community involves everybody from from the people who have significant personal means to the people who have nothing if the only quality or if a requirement for interest and acceptance and welcome in community is that you have means i think we're missing a point so so as far as that that's my view of that conceptually now the ordinance has been enacted and and personally as a citizen and and if i were to get this position i will i would do my part to ensure it's done well with heart and humanity um i would love to see as mayor pointed out at that same meeting his one of his primary reasons that he disagrees with that is we have not done the thing that the task force recommended right we have not done the primary ones uh you know mitigation site um among others so we haven't done the thing that this very intelligent engaged task force recommended would solve this problem and and so we're so it feels knee-jerk it feels sudden it feels drastic as well if you don't solve a problem the problem goes away for instance in rural park it it centralizes a lot of concerns very viable concerns are the frequency of overdose calls that happen to borough park yeah it's unfortunate and and and common again drug use is already illegal so we don't need to we don't need to find any other way to to justify addressing that particular uh pandemic but we disperse them from rural park now instead of having they go to brew a park now they go out to matlock they go out to your backyard they go out to the woods next to the church now these first responders are dispersed to the county because being arrested and when you're poor being fined if you say you serve a jail time and you pay your money you come out broker than you were yeah still entrenched in that problem um yes so what do you say to folks that you know that advocate for arresting these people knowing that you know i've talked with the sheriff here there's no room there's no room at the jail so what does what would you say to them if that is their main that maybe they feel that that's the main way that this is going to solve itself by levying these fines or arresting and then who knows what happens to them because they can't take them to the jail no not enough room no but good question first thing i'd honestly do is i would try to listen to them yeah i don't pretend that i know everything and the quicker we start shutting down mentally before we even start hearing a person's perspective the less able we are to connect and if you sometimes get caught up in what somebody's saying and not necessarily why they're saying it this person if they're saying it's simply from a i believe in harsh punishment and that's what these folks deserve is a harsh punishment then i would say then then that's wrong then you're approaching this wrong you're approaching this without empathy and without seeing the humanity and worth of these folks right but i would listen i would try to find out and they would probably relay you know i have grandchildren i used to go to Neyland park now i'm scared to or i used to go down to george's antique shop downtown all the time get my pictures or or get ice cream whatever it may be and i can't anymore because Brewer Park presents a danger i'm not willing to put my loved ones in and from that perspective i would i would point out exactly what you said you know talking with the the primary law enforcement leadership that they know that this is not a solution they know we don't have the capacity and if you do the numbers in a in an unbiased way this is going to be more costly to the city more incumbent open us up to more litigation i would say to them that that safety has never been bought through uh through simply criminalizing especially criminalizing a behavior that some people might not have control of yeah i was very poor growing up my father died before i was one a single mother with four small children and certain health ailments that prevented her from really gaining and maintaining good employment so there was never a single month where there was enough money and my my life i kind of lived in the cusp of being homeless and i am here where i am if i was homeless my life would be in a very different place i don't need to fantasize or imagine scenarios if if i'd been homeless for a appreciable part of my life i'd be in a very different position what do you what do you say to people who would go you know i've worked here in Shelton maybe at the mill maybe somewhere else you know i've worked here my whole life and i struggle to get by for me and my family and it it seems like the city government or the state government is kind of just giving these folks i guess in this situation it would be a handout we talk a lot about in the community a hand up versus a handout stuff like that but you they're like well i've put my time in i've worked here you know every shift morning swing overnights and i'm struggling but i see folks here in the park and and it and it appears to me that they're just giving out resources and it doesn't seem fair to me what do you say to someone that brings that up well first of all i would have sympathy for them again i lived a life you know of that struggle a second i would really try to connect with if they're in that position the first step would be solving their struggle to find out like when they say struggle what they mean when they you know what isn't connecting you know from your means to your needs where's the gap and there are a lot of resources for folks who don't happen to be displaced or homeless or living in a tent in the woods there are plenty of resources to help the ymca is having a financial literacy class coming up here where not only they teach them budgeting and and go through and how do you healthfully buy and for instance in a if you go to safeway if you stick to the the perimeter you get fresher food it's a simple thing that a lot of people don't necessarily think about right so there's financial literacy classes you know as well as is many other resources so really in that that scenario i would talk to that individual and actually find out you know where their personal struggle is and see if we can engage in getting them that leg up that help that they need because often it's just simply a disconnect from what you need to the person that can can help you with that need and there are so many people doing so many good things that it can be daunting to know who's with this specific need to address so that'd be my first step and second i wouldn't necessarily argue with it because i know that uh if you were talk to a homeless person that's been persistently homeless say for multiples of years they would have a very different view of what the community has given them and offer them and resource to them and sacrifice for them they'd have a different view um and that's it succinctly is is to bridge that mentality of it seems like they're getting handouts and i'm getting nothing it's like okay like i would ask them you know define what nothing is and what can you do and what can we do to help you and because the fact is that tide raises all ships if everybody in the community feels welcome and accepted and supported within that community they they give back to that community and somebody without means their contribution to community can simply be a good citizen and not act out in vagrancy and engage in in behaviors that are negative to the community in general if they're loved and welcome and accepted for who they are and what their their place is you mentioned um about the impact that local government can make yes uh we have seen and again the folks here in Shelton, Mason County everywhere these days are working very hard and it's hard for them to have any kind of spare time to do research attend political functions meet and greets things like that right and so one of the things that we've seen is while local government can make the most impact in your daily life local elections don't get a lot of looks for people how do you make how do you encourage and make people this primary specifically when the turnout is 25 percent of the population maybe 2,500 out of excuse me 10,000 people are making the decision basically you know who moves on in this top two how do you say your vote here matters the fact that we're moving on into November and you gotta you gotta it's not just an every four year thing that we need to be voting but these elections have more consequence often than the state the congressional the presidential uh well first i would use those exact words that you used is is is simply that a vote locally is a vote for somebody you have the opportunity to know very well and in a small town like Shelton something I appreciate about uh Shelton is is I don't have a concern what people know or what they know about me fortunately I can look back and be comfortable with the interactions I've had in the past because I've dealt with them as best I can whether the other person involved in that interaction thinks it was best I can or what their view of it I can be comfortable with that interaction and so so I would use those words simply one is you can go out is your vote is is far outsized compared to a federal election locally two you have this opportunity to not just meet your these potential candidates but really really get to know them what are they about and and and what do they really do and you could see them in times when things are going well or things times are going distressed you have this opportunity to look engage and reach and be within hands reach of everybody engaged in the local government and it's understandable that people don't have time it's reality as uh I don't know if we were recording at the time but but talking about how recently I've come in to to really engage in local government it's because I had it's so many other things yeah that that didn't demand my attention deserved my attention and my efforts and engagement and I'm looking at the fruits of that with with happy and healthy kids who are thriving um and good question again good question one when I would like to solve a couple recent uh social media uh uh engagements I've done it's just simply to say just vote it really doesn't matter who you vote for should be a combination of who you are what you want the things you want to see grow and connect with a person who represents those or embodies those and and and choose that they knowing that they represent you well in in rooms that you might not occupy and so personally what I would then do not not really knowing how to answer that question because since ever primaries are hyper low turnout yeah the the margin of victory for some of these seats is low single digits which is not alarming but there's a better way to do that uh and the better way to do that is all 10,000 residents it's 10,000 some odd residents of Shelton engage in the primary do you think it's because people feel like their officials aren't listening to them generally or is it they're just super busy I think it's certainly some of that it's certainly especially as you mentioned the typical voter myself included up until four years ago I only engaged in the general elections every four years and then how many times have we done that and then looked at what happens to our vote or the person that we would love to have got seen get it doesn't or so on and so that it might make you jaded toward the process in general especially younger folks and and talking about earlier my pillars you know one of them is get the youth absolutely engaged particularly in local government because if you're 18 and voting then that vote could have an impact for 70 years of your life right you know god bless our older community but if you're 80 plus and you vote on a thing it's not going to have that same longevity of impact on your life right so so I would start personally how I would personally change that is engage with the youth very very intentfully engage with the youth in a way that they hear what I'm saying not simply get out to vote but but why it matters and then once we get the youth in I think that would inspire if could you imagine if you're sitting at a table with your 18 year old kid who hasn't even graduated college or high school and they're talking in detail about what's happening locally and how they're voting or engaged I think that would motivate parents to do it yeah well my 18 year old knows so much about this it could motivate parents to engage and and and just get it out just get that word out my one of my core messages going through this process which I think is is contributive to my community regardless of whether I make it not it is exactly that just just vote it doesn't matter who you vote for just vote in your primary vote in the general vote in the off years vote when it's just the house of reps and the and uh and congress that are being uh voted for just just vote get your voice out there especially locally and then once your voice is is out there make sure that the leaders that you put there have an opportunity to hear your voice and I say opportunity kind of you know don't force it opportunity to hear your voice make sure your voice is is is known to them and in from a personal perspective the best way I could do that is ensure the person you put there cares about it and listens and is interested in it what do you like to do for fun great question uh lots swim one of the things I outside of my kids which really for fun uh uh my kids my dog got an Aussie shepherd fantastic uh I think there should be ordinance requiring people to get outside when it's this beautiful yeah because we put up with the winter here in Washington and the winter gets us this beauty uh I love to engage with nature I've already you know me and my uh my gorgeous partner right making sure that my calendar contains opportunities to get out uh we're gonna go uh not this coming Friday but the next Friday either Eleanor back to Storm King yeah I wish both amazing hikes um so I love to do that engage in nature I work out quite a bit and uh a core reason for that is it's it's such a foundational way to to have to set a mental health foundation is the best way I could say that every time I like now I have kind of a sinus I don't know it may come in this recording hopefully not for your your audience but um in my head this morning I'm like I'm not gonna work out but then fortunately I'm like you know what I'm gonna work out because every time I do I feel better after doing it oh yeah you mentioned you're a runner yeah right it's it's you get you lace your boots on it's your long day you know if you were trained you said you're training for a marathon it's your long day and there's nothing in your body no no no nerve no inch no hair fiber nothing wants to run 20 miles but you do it you're done you're like thank you yeah thank you three hours ago me for doing this I like to dive um almost anything ocean uh it's lots of things I like to best way because when whenever the music is about to stop for me whenever my time is up because we all have an exactly measured amount of time here all we are left with our memories and the best way I could phrase what do I like to do for fun is I want to make good memories I want to live a life to bore people at thanksgiving for the rest of my life with the things I've been engaged in finally you're talking to your old navy buddies right and again they're still trying to figure out where Shelton is on the map but where do you what would be like the quick pitch to come visit Shelton that you give them what do you say you gotta come here because and that great question this Shelton is such this beautifully positioned town in going towards Bremerton going towards Olympia going west towards Ocean Shores and Westport going north towards Cushman and and the the Olympics it is in its position so perfectly you you don't have the the traffic density and the urban density but you have quick access to all those things coming from California or or San Diego stays in there eight years loved it so many fantastic things I could say about San Diego but coming from San Diego here there's just the air is better right and that's not me saying that because I'm biased towards Washington and specifically Shelton which I am but it is it's better the water is better and you mentioned the water the water is better and everywhere you look just looking out this one random window as I say that and there's trees it's it has a I think an ideal mix again of urban access anything you know the shopping's minutes away you can go down Olympia and not have to have dealt with Olympia you know Cushman and mountains it's just it is so perfectly located for all the things that anybody could want to engage in and you could live a lifetime and not experience and and truly engage in all the amazing things that particularly the Olympic Peninsula offers and in my opinion the best staging point to do all that is Shelton. Do you have a website or anything? Uh not yet not yet I'm on Facebook uh Kenneth Mobley you know everybody feel free you can feel free to look me up I will have a a website here shortly and the point just kind of highlights a lot of things we talked about allow people to it is my ambition and desire to go out and one-on-one meet every single person in Shelton and I would love to do that and that's achievable in a long-term strategic view in the meantime um socials websites are are a fantastic tool where I know I'm unfortunately confident I will not be able to to meet all 10,000 people prior prior to when they would have to make a decision on me I will have a website up and I'll yeah I'll put the links in the show notes and all that perfect so the August the primaries in August again this is for Shelton City Council the third position the top two are going to move on to the primary because it's a four-person race here I've reached out to the other three people who have put their hats into the ring for this position and so as those conversations come up we'll make sure those get posted as well again online we can find you and I'll put the links and the spelling so people can find you all that but Ken Mobley thank you for your time this was a long this is a good conversation we could talk for another hour I'm sure comfortably I love talking with you but this is this has been really good to get to know you I've seen you around and uh yeah well good luck in in all your efforts uh here coming up thank you I truly appreciate it and uh and it's been a fantastic experience you know regardless of the outcome of it um you know this is a fantastic community and and I have a chance to give back and this is the path I see it but if this path does not um find me occupying a spot on the city council I was still engaged in community I was still put effort to grow and so you know you your listeners whomever uh you know whether in this function or what or capacity you know reach out to me I love I love Shelton I'm going to be here for the foreseeable future and and even if you're not so vote vote local elect a person that represents you in that room and if you don't vote or vote or participate in that participate in community get out and and make it better because you can it's a small community uh small coalitions people make things better and and I'm here to do that so if if any of if you if any of your listeners have ideas of how we can engage and grow community regardless of the the reason why you would want to engage I'm a person and I've got time so very cool thank you it's nice to talk with you likewise