Three seek county commissioner position 1: Don Gentry

Age: 69

Resides in Othello

Education: Graduated from Forks High School, Wash. 1971 graduate from Washington State University with a bachelors degree in forestry and range management.

Current profession: Real estate broker

Spouse: Susan

Children: Brian, Cynthia, Evan, Julie, Gayle, Michael, Andrew and Melissa.

Originally a general manger in the forest industry, Gentry currently works as a real estate broker in Othello, which he has done for the past 15 years. Gentry moved to Othello in 1963, and has spent those years rotating between jobs and living in Adams County and Alaska, but has always maintained a residence in Othello throughout the past 49 years.

“I have always been civic minded but not active in politics. In recent years, I have been involved in real estate sales in Adams County,” he stated. “Through this experience I have come to recognize the incompatibility of regulations between city and county government. In simple terms, ‘the gears don’t mesh well.’ My goal, if elected, will be to work with the cities and county agencies to make Adams County ‘builder friendly.’

“Adams County is at a disadvantage when it comes to recruiting new industry. We don’t have cheap power like Grant County. It is essential that we identify our strengths and market them vigorously,” he added.

Gentry’s primary goals and concerns for the Adams County commissioner position are ground water management, fiscal accountability, and economic growth and development in the county. His business background has helped shape his decision to run for the commissioner position and a desire to implement change in the county.

“I would want to look at the systems within the government to make sure there’s not contradictions,” he said. “As a business person, I’ve worked on developing land in Adams County and I found that the gears don’t mesh well between building and planning, and engineering and health. The different entities that you have to go through to get something done you can get agreement from one but not from the other because they have different goals and objectives. And I think its not development friendly when that happens.

“I’d like to be able to stream line the system to where if a business comes in to the Adams County and says, ‘we are interested in setting up business here,’ it would be nice if the permits were already in place, so all they have to do is sign their name to it and that the different departments were already on board,” he explained. “In other words, rather than the department heads holding down a job and drawing a paycheck, they need to be more invested in seeing Adams County grow.”

If elected as a county commissioner, Gentry believes a top priority is the fiscal responsibility. He has previous experience maintaining budgets and is confident in his ability to help better the county.

“I believe that for the last 10 years that I was working in forestry, I administered a 10-13 million dollar annual budget and I always come in under budget because I was fiscally responsible. I made sure that the money spent received back more than was spent. It was basic fiscal responsibility,” he added.

Gentry feels there is a need in Adams County to encourage businesses to come into the county or for businesses that are currently here to expand. He mentioned he has heard the talk of Adams County working on development but would like to see substantial growth.

“If a company came in that made canoes and kayaks, which is totally unrelated to agriculture, we would welcome them with open arms and support them,” Gentry commented. “But nonetheless, I think we have a better chance of going to… people in Adams County who already have their facilities up and running and say, ‘what can Adams County do for you that would encourage you to expand?’ And work with existing companies to make it so that they will expand rather than new companies that are unrelated to agriculture.”

An important aspect of growth and sustainability in the county for Gentry is the potential ground water management plan and the expansion of the east low canal.

“I am also concerned about the water because the Odessa aquifer probably has about 50 years of water left. And all of those deep wells are going to go dry. And that lake will not replenish itself,” he said. “And so rather than bicker over on how to get to the objective, solving that problem, they need to stop bickering and come together. I know that GWMA and the county commissioners are not seeing eye-to-eye.

“I think that GWMA needs to say ‘this is what we need to accomplish our goal, and the county commissioners here to say ‘this is what we need to accomplish our goal,’ and see if there’s any common ground,” he continued. “Because right now I think there’s not common ground, they’ve got different objectives.”

Gentry admits that he has not had much elected experience, but he has learned lessons over the year that help strengthen his character and make him a viable candidate. He was the president of the Quillayute Valley School District, president of the Othello Rotary Club from 2010-2011, served as the public relations chairman for the Alaskan Forest Association and currently serves as the chairman of the Adams County Board of Adjustments.

“From the beginning of my career in forestry, my managers have always managed me by objective. They never asked me if I knew how to do something, they just told me what they wanted me to do. And because of that, I’m not afraid to tackle the unknown,” he said about running for election. “I don’t believe there are any problems that are not solvable.”

As a county, Gentry believes that the strengths and weaknesses balance to create a safe and healthy place for citizens to live. His emphasis and priorities for the election remains as the fiscal responsibility and increasing revenue in the county.

“The strength (of the county) is that we have a good workforce, we have a lot of people that are willing to work and we have industry in place to be able to meet those needs,” he said. “I think what we need is to be able to have a constant revenue, and if we can improve the revenue flow then we’re able to fix the roads and provide the social services and those type of things.”

Gentry is focused on bringing new ideas and development to Adams County in order to strengthen the economy and increase revenue. If elected, he plans to continue his current involvement in his community and expand to work with more departments throughout Adams County.

“I just think that with the political atmosphere in the country, sometimes you have to step up and take responsibility. That’s what I want to do,” he said.

“Politically, I call myself a constitutional conservative. I believe strongly in the constitution, it is the benchmark for everything we do, I believe in term limits. I feel I am qualified and I am ready, the time is right.”