Two Palouse council seats to be decided

Garth Meyer, Gazette Reporter | Oct 30, 20130

Two city council seats are up for election in Palouse Nov. 5.

The races put two appointed incumbents up against two challengers.

For position one, incumbent Allison Webb aims for re-election while Doreen Hanson challenges.

For position four, Senja Estes, who was appointed to the council in May after the resignation of Cecil Floyd, is up against Brad Pearce.

Efforts by the Gazette to reach Allison Webb and Doreen Hanson were unsuccessful.

Senja Estes

A former cryptologist technician operator for the U.S. Navy and academic advisor for WSU, Estes now works as a graphic designer for Schweitzer Engineering.

If chosen, she will start a new four-year term. This is her first political office.

“I would like to support the city to the best of my abilities,” she said.

She said she has enjoyed her time on the council so far, her first involvement with political office.

“It can be challenging, but it’s interesting. I’m really learning about how the city functions,” she said.

Estes has no party affiliation.

“I would like to listen to the community and deal with their issues,” she said. “I don’t have a personal agenda. I would rather focus on what the people want.”

Among the issues she has to deal with so far is the proposed skate park.

“I’m open to the idea of having a skate park in Palouse but I think it has to be in the right location to be successful,” she said.

Estes indicated that her nine years in the military and eight years in academic advising (for chemical and biochemical engineers) has served her on the council.

“There’s a lot of fine lines and rules and regulations that have to be followed in city government,” she said.

Brad Pearce

A part-owner of Kentco Construction and seasonal employee of WSU Creamery, Brad Pearce is running for his first political office.

Pearce, 25, grew up in Palouse and moved back to town with his wife in January.

He said that several things motivated him to run for a council seat, such as the burn ordinance, the city budget, city taxes, alcohol and policing.

“My initial desire to be on the council came from when they were having trouble filling the position (after Floyd resigned),” said Pearce, who put his name forth then.

“I’m unhappy with the burn policy and very concerned about the budget,” he said, noting that he thought city taxes can be lowered.

He also mentioned the town’s e-mail mailing list.

“It’s apparent that people in the city don’t have a good source for information about what’s going on with the city council,” he said. “I want to inform people.”

If he’s elected, he said he will maintain a Facebook page on which he would post relevant information about the council meetings within 48 hours and pledge to answer all questions.

As far as alcohol, Pearce said he would like to repeal an ordinance which restricts liquor purchases to weekends.

“Palouse has an absurd alcohol ordinance, it’s outdated and ridiculous,” he said.

He said he would also like to change the town’s $15 fee to register dogs to a lifetime $5 fee.

He believes the money can be saved by cutting the budget.

“I want to cut the budget in a very serious fashion,” he said. “For one thing, there is massive over-spending on the police who patrol around so much when there is nothing going on.”

Pearce, who is a libertarian, also said the drunk driving enforcement efforts are questionable.

“I don’t believe the contents of a person’s blood is ever a crime,” he said. “Only the actual damage they cause. The police should be pulling people over if they are actually driving in an unsafe fashion, as opposed to just pulling over cars (at times and places) in which the driver might have had a drink.”