Should West Richland vote on lifting the marijuana ban? These council candidates don’t agree

Kate Moran is making her second run at a West Richland City Council seat, this time trying for the post held for one term by Ken Stoker.

Stoker has lived in West Richland for 21 years and is running on a conservative platform of fiscal responsibility and defending property rights.

He has advocated for free speech as the council has considered updating sign ordinances for private property. He also has encouraged the council to wait at least one meeting after an issue is introduced before voting on it, to give more time for the public to comment.

He is a proponent of economic development, but he believes it’s inappropriate and speculative for the city to use taxpayer money to stimulate business growth, he told the Herald.

Stoker got involved with city issues in 2011, protesting the city’s plans to make changes to Flat Top Park and has been monitoring City Hall ever since. He works as a database software developer.

Moran moved to West Richland and used her bachelor’s degree in nuclear engineering technology to get a Hanford job after serving in the U.S. Navy for nine years.

She’s concerned that poorly planned growth will negatively impact West Richland’s small town charm and wants to balance economic development with the town’s quality of life.

The city needs a wider range of small businesses and should work more closely with the Tri-City Development Council (TRIDEC) on new commercial development, she said.

Moran failed to win a seat on the council two years ago, but has kept up her involvement, serving as chairwoman of the city’s planning commission, vice president of the Citizens Community Care Foundation and a member of the West Richland Police Department Community Advisory Board.

Marijuana, affirmative action

The two candidates diverge on whether it is time for West Richland residents to have another say on allowing marijuana sales.

Five years ago, the council voted 4-3 against allowing sales inside the city limits. However, a cannabis shop is open for business in an unincorporated piece of Benton County that’s bordered on three sides by West Richland.

Moran said since 2014 residents know more about the good and bad things that could happen if a city has a marijuana dispensary. And it’s time to allow city voters to decide if they want to overturn the moratorium, she said at a recent League of Women Voters forum in Richland.

Stoker believes city residents are still strongly against marijuana sales.

They packed a town hall he attended before joining the council, with two-thirds of the people opposing sales, and many of those who supported the sales lived outside West Richland, he said.

Stoker and Moran also were asked about affirmative action at the forum.

Moran said she supports it to promote diversity. Stoker said he believes in a meritocracy or that people succeed on their merits.

Moran has raised nearly $8,000 in her campaign, including $1,000 each from the pipefitters union Local 598 and the Washington Education Association.

Stoker has not raised enough money to be required to report to the state’s Public Disclosure Commission.

Ballots for the mail-in election must be postmarked — not just mailed — by 8 p.m. Nov. 5, or placed in an election dropbox.