Weise announces candidacy for commission seat

OTHELLO - A local man is running for the Adams County Commissioner Position No. 2 seat currently occupied by Roger Hartwig.

Hartwig is not seeking re-election.

A lifelong resident, Jay Weise, 60, moved to Othello in 1990, where he lives with his wife, Lois. He currently works as Adams County emergency management director.

Weise is running because, as a 30-year county employee, he has been watching how things are going and "we need some new ideas."

"We need to really be communicative within the the county organization; dealing with the other elected officials and department heads and getting good strategic goals for the county," Weise said. "We are all in this in one big community. I think we need a good, solid, direction to take; a good plan of attack in where we want to take the county."

Weise said while there wasn't anything that necessarily needed to be changed about the way the county was doing things, there were quite a few things that needed updated.

"There's a lot of policies that need to be brought up to date to deal with today's needs and requirements. I think we have some departments that could probably use some updating. You need to talk to the department heads and elected officials to find out exactly what they need to make the next step into making their departments better for the employees and the public. I think we can really work on the quality of service that we provide to the public.

I don't believe we are doing a bad job now, but I think there's always room for improvement. I think we just need to take a hard look at a lot of things and see what we can, and if they need, to be improved."

Weise said being with the county for almost 30 years, he knows a lot about what goes on.

"I've lived in the Ritzville area half of my life, and I've lived in the Othello area half of my life. I worked for the sheriff's office 23 years and seven of those I was the undersheriff, which is the number two person in that office, under Sheriff Mike Klein. I was charged with managing the sheriff's office budget."

Weise has served as an Adams County District 5 Commissioner since 2012, where he said he is also actively involved in the budget.

"I don't claim to have all the answers or know everything, but I certainly have done a little bit within the county to hopefully help out the county," Weise said.

He is currently the president of the Othello Rotary Club.

"Up until COVID-19 happened, that keeps us active because we have three or four community events we like to participate in," Weise said, adding it is his second stint as president for the Rotary Club.

"I've been active in Rotary since the late '90s. All through my life I've been involved in different civic groups," Weise said.

While living in Ritzville, he was active in the Ritzville Festivals Association, Ritzville Rodeo Association and the Adams County Community Network.