POULSBO — When Jeff McGinty joined the Poulsbo City Council in 1991, Poulsbo was a much different place.
The population was 1,900. The Olhava area was still forested and largely undeveloped. The fire department was housed in the old city hall; the department hadn’t become Kitsap County Fire Protection District No. 18.
“There was no Rite Aid, there was a limited selection of restaurants,” McGinty said. “If you wanted McDonald’s, you had to go to Bremerton.”
Ah, but population growth was coming to God’s country (the state’s population would grow from 4.9 million in 1990 to 7 million in 2014). And a new tool — the comprehensive plan — was being developed to manage that growth, in accordance with the Growth Management Act adopted by the Legislature in 1990.
The Growth Management Act, also known as the GMA, intended to prevent uncoordinated and unplanned growth that could sprawl into open spaces, threaten sensitive areas and circumvent sustainable economic development.
The GMA requires local governments to manage growth by preparing comprehensive plans; adopting development regulations; identifying and protecting critical areas and natural resource lands; and designating urban growth areas.
McGinty said the comp plan has been a great tool. The public is involved in the updating of the plan, and it’s therefore the public’s blueprint “for the way we envision the community,” he said. “It helps us set policies. It identifies where we’re going to grow. It makes us what we are today.”
Today, Poulsbo, on the cusp of a population of 10,000, is a relatively affordable, safe place to live, with swaths of green open spaces and a culture of public involvement, McGinty said. He wants to follow through on policies established by the city “and make sure we don’t compromise our quality of life.”
McGinty, 56, is now running unopposed for a seventh term on the council; his former opponent, retired Navy chief petty officer Gregory Mueller, withdrew his candidacy on Aug. 28 to concentrate on some personal matters. The general election is Nov. 3.
McGinty is a native of Seattle, graduated with an engineering degree from the University of Idaho in 1983 and is an electrical engineer and project manager at Naval Undersea Warfare Center, Keyport.
He moved to Poulsbo in 1983 and, in 1988, ran for City Council. “People I worked with in the community encouraged me to run,” he said. He lost to Sherry Appleton, but was appointed to the city’s Parks and Recreation Commission.
In November 1991, he ran for council again and won. He has served as mayor pro tem since 1999; the mayor pro tem is appointed by the mayor with the concurrence of the council, and the mayor pro tem serves as chief executive should the mayor be absent or unable to serve. (For example, Mayor Becky Erickson lives on Noll Road and, to avoid any conflict of interest, McGinty is overseeing the contracts for improvements being done on Noll Road.)
McGinty serves on the council’s public safety and public works committees.
Projects he wants to see through to completion: construction of the new public works yard on Viking Way; expanded use of telemetry, used to remotely monitor and control public utilities; continued detection and correction of stormwater infiltration into the city’s wastewater system; and adoption of the SmartGov system, which would make it possible to file building permits online.
He’s interested in the revitalization of south Viking Avenue, and feels mixed-use development — now allowed in zoning by the city — would make “a nice entry” to Poulsbo. However, he said some property owners, remembering how road and infrastructure improvements in the last decade affected their businesses, are sensitive about local government becoming too involved.
“I’m supportive of what they want to do,” McGinty said of South Viking Avenue property owners. “We’ll be as [involved] as we need to be.”
City Council’s mission statement
Poulsbo City Council members are elected to four-year terms. They receive $700 a month. Only the mayor, who is directly elected, is full time and salaried.
The council’s mission statement, from cityofpoulsbo.com:
The council “endeavors to balance residents’ concerns and opinions with the law. The Council establishes the priorities of the City along with setting policies and a budget to allow the Mayor and Department Heads to run day-to-day business effectively and efficiently.”
Longest-serving council members
According to the City Clerk’s office, these are the longest-serving council members.
1. Jeff McGinty: 23 years (1992 to the present; also longest consecutive term).
2. W.F. Burns: 20 years (1972-1983, 1985-1993).
3. George Teien: 18 years (1908-09, 1911-21, 1928-32).
4. Dale Rudolph: 17 years (1993-2010).
5. Alf Hostmark; 16 years (1911-16, 1926-34).
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2015 ELECTION: OUR COVERAGE SCHEDULE
— Aug. 28: Profiles of Amanda Cheatham and Ken Thomas, candidates for Poulsbo City Council, Position 1.
— Sept. 4: Gregory A. Mueller drops his candidacy for Poulsbo City Council, Position 4.
— Sept. 11: Jeffrey McGinty, now-lone candidate for Poulsbo City Council, Position 4, talks about his priorities for his seventh term.
— Sept. 25: Profiles of Scott Henden and Glen Robbins, candidates for North Kitsap School Board, District 4.
— Oct. 2: Profiles of Deborah Simon and Bill Webb, candidates for North Kitsap School Board, District 5.
