Angela Harris says it’s time for a “fresh perspective and voice” on the Edmonds Port Commission.

Harris officially kicked off her campaign for Port Commission District 1 Sunday night, speaking to a gathering of supporters in the Westgate neighborhood.

An Edmonds resident for four and a half years, Harris said she would bring to the port commission more than 20 years of program and project management experience. She has spent the last 12 years at Microsoft, where she has served as senior business program manager, managing budgets and creating work plans.

“On the job I am also the person for difficult projects or stakeholders, because of my ability to step in and collaborate,” Harris said. “i don’t bring an ego; I want to hear what everyone has to say.”

Outside of work, Harris said she’s been active as a volunteer in numerous organizations, including the Global Give Back Circle, where she mentors young women to help lift them out of poverty. She’s also been a volunteer legal advocate for Domestic Violence Services of Snohomish County, and is working with the City of Edmonds and EarthCorps to create a long-term restoration plan for Edmonds’ Hutt Park.

And since one of her four children was born with Wolf-Hirschhorn Syndrome, she has served on the parent advisory committee for Washington Sensory Disability Services, and collaborated with the Styer-Fitzgerald Program for Functional Academics.

“Ultimately, being involved in all the areas that I have, I realize that it starts local,” Harris said. “If we want global change, we need to make local change. And I think that it’s time…for the Port Commission. The status quo needs to be changed.”

“I think with my leadership strengths and managing complex projects and priorities and diverse stakeholder opinions, I can make a difference with the port,” Harris added. “We need a leader with a fresh perspective and a voice to represent the Town of Woodway and the City of Edmonds.”

The port district includes the City of Edmonds west of 92nd Avenue West, the Town of Woodway and unincorporated areas of Snohomish County south of Edmonds and west of 92nd. You can see the boundaries and current districts for the five-member Port Commission here.

All three Port District incumbents, whose terms expire this year, got challengers, which is unusual for an Edmonds Port Commission race. The last contested Edmonds port election was eight years ago, when one of three port positions on the 2009 ballot had two candidates. Since then, two candidates ran unopposed in 2011, as did three candidates in 2013 and two in 2015.

Harris is challenging incumbent Commission District 1 Commissioner Fred Gouge.

Some believe the impetus for three contested port commission races this year was the long-simmering controversy involving the Edmonds City Council and Port Commission over the width of the Edmonds Marsh buffer, which was finally resolved earlier this spring with agreement on a Shoreline Master Plan update.

“I think it’s great that we have an improved buffer and the approved Shoreline Master Plan update,” Harris said, noting that work “took a lot of caring citizens, it took a lot of science, it took a lot of time.” Now, she added, “we need to look at what’s next” for the marsh. We need to look at what’s next to maintain, sustain and improve the miles of shoreline that we’re responsible for. It’s also important to take a close look at related storm water issues, which not only affect the marsh but Puget Sound.”

The port also needs “to proactively be looking at climate change and what that’s going to do to the whole shoreline. It’s going to affect everyone,” Harris added.

While the port has tremendous opportunities with tourism and shoreline enhancement, “any building should be in balance with nature,” she said. “We can grow responsibly and also be enhancing our shoreline along the way.’

Added Harris: “I want to bring fresh ideas and partnerships and new collaboration, and ultimately I want to bring about positive change.”

To learn more, visit Harris’s campaign website here.

— Story and photos by Teresa Wippel