POULSBO — Despite being a first-timer to the political field, Joe Price isn’t letting that keep him from running against Councilwoman Connie Lord for Position 2 on the Poulsbo City Council. Tired of sitting on the sidelines, Price said he is ready to jump in and work, no excuses, no wasting time.

The eager and enthusiastic candidate said he’ll apply his knowledge of government and experiences living in other parts of the world in order to keep Little Norway a city both safe and thriving.

“I’m not the kind of person to turn my back on things,” he said. “Credibility with government in general is going down hill.”

Price has lived in Kitsap County since 2000, and in Poulsbo since 2004. He’s attended just six city council meetings, and said it is the inefficient way they’re conducted that has frustratingly kept him away. He said a council-approved February 2007 Police Department Process Study that included language about contracting with an outside protection agency led to his initial decision to enter the government’s arena, despite the language later being removed and the council’s explanation that it never intended to dismantle Poulsbo’s police force.

“When the city even thought it, I was like, ‘They’ve got to go,” he said. “This community wouldn’t be the way it is without the police.”

Price said further issues addressed by the city, including the construction of a new city hall and downtown parking problems, are taking too much of the public’s money and time. The city’s current leaders are “on the wrong page,” he said.

Price spent 12 years as an aviation technician working in the Marine Corps, and now serves as a nursing assistant at the Wyatt House Retirement Center on Bainbridge Island. He said he has design ideas of his own for a new city hall, and would also like to see community involvement in its planning. He said the building must be more handicap-accessible, and he would like to see something similar to the Kitsap County Administration Building in Port Orchard.

“I want to do this thing right,” he said.

Price said he would also like to implement more national security and immigration information training into the city’s police department, and possibly create a reserve force for additional officers as the city grows. He said traffic congestion and safety must also be addressed, and pointed out Little Norway is in need of more restaurants that families can afford. An Old Country Buffet would be ideal, he said.

“I would want to bring in the kind of businesses that are more tuned into families,” he said.