Candidates for Thurston County commissioner District 3 and Thurston County sheriff met for a forum hosted by the Tenino Area Chamber of Commerce at the Kodiak Room Wednesday night with the general election just a few weeks away now.
Incumbent Commissioner Tye Menser, a Democrat, is running against challenger Vivian Kay Eason, a Republican, for a seat on the Thurston County Board of Commissioners.
Eason said she is running for commissioner because she feels citizens in South Thurston County are underrepresented.
“Over the years I’ve wanted to see more involvement of citizens in the county government,” Eason said in her opening remarks.
One problem she identified was many of the county government meetings being at times that were inaccessible for most residents working during the day. If elected, Eason hopes to move meeting times to later in the day. Additionally, the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office is underfunded in her opinion.
Menser, a former attorney specializing in family law and criminal defense, has been serving as a county commissioner since 2018. He highlighted some of his accomplishments in the past four years, which he characterized as creating better financial practices, delivering a habitat conservation plan and promoting policies focusing on more mental health programs as opposed to incarcerating people.
“We have a lot of work left to do. I want to continue the work I started on housing, water quality and closing gaps in the mental health care system,” Menser said in his opening remarks.
As for the sheriff race, Thurston County Sheriff John Snaza is running against challenger Deputy Derek Sanders.
Sanders had previously served in the Lacey Police Department before being hired as a deputy sheriff in Thurston County.
“I got involved really late in this game, and the reason I got involved was I was tired of the way our county runs. I’m just a regular guy, the deputy sheriff, I work the night shift,” Sanders said in his opening remarks.
He stated he isn’t running necessarily to win but to get people talking about a variety of issues he sees within the department that he feels get ignored. He received the most votes in the August top-two primary, with Snaza coming in second.
Sanders said he is also worried about public safety with crime rates on the rise. If elected, he plans to create a civilian advisory board to help improve transparency within the department. One other issue he addressed was needing to improve retention within the department. According to Sanders, 10 sheriff deputies have left Thurston County in the past 12 months.
Snaza stated that public safety was already a priority and one thing he’s accomplished recently was adding detectives to deal with the rising fentanyl overdose epidemic. He also said he instituted an officer safety and wellness program for his deputies to help them deal with the stress and trauma they face in the line of duty.
“I have an officer safety wellness program that the men and women of Thurston County Sheriff’s Office can respond to get the help they need to recover quickly and be able to see a professional if they are experiencing post-traumatic stress,” Snaza said in his opening remarks.
The full candidate forum can be viewed by visiting the Tenino Area Chamber of Commerce Facebook page at https://fb.watch/giEtIYUB8b/.
