Incumbent Hannah Stone faces two challengers for Bellingham City Council Ward 1

Two people are challenging Councilwoman Hannah Stone for the Bellingham City Council’s Ward 1 seat in the Aug. 1 primary, where the two candidates with the most votes will advance to the Nov. 7 general election.

In Bellingham, the council’s ward seats are four-year terms and the job pays $67,000 annually.

Ward 1 includes part of the Columbia, Birchwood and Meridian neigborhoods and all of Cordata.

This year’s city and county races are nonpartisan.

All voting is by mail in Washington state.

Ballots must be postmarked — not simply placed in the mail — by 8 p.m. Aug. 1 to be counted. Ballots can also be placed in official ballot drop boxes that will be locked when polling closes.

Here’s how the candidates responded to a Bellingham Herald questionnaire that asked them to list their qualifications, the top three issues facing the city, and how they would solve one of those priorities. Candidates are listed in the order that they appear on the ballot:

Michi Marcher

Michi Marcher of Cordata is a trans single parent, tenants’ rights organizer and workplace activist who spent more than 10 years in the service and hospitality industry cleaning rooms and serving food.

Marcher has also worked helping a person with developmental disabilities, and spent two years at the Whatcom County Library System.

“(I was) class representative for my fellow workers from The Willows Inn for wage theft, and (spent) two years organizing protests about their exploitative business practices, sexual harassment, racism and homophobia we experienced from management,” Marcher said in the state voter pamphlet, describing investigative reports about the former Lummi Island restaurant by The New York Times in 2021 and 2022.

A graduate of Ferndale High, Marcher has an associate’s degree from Portland Community College and is studying law, diversity and justice at Western Washington University.

“Wage theft encompasses more property crime than burglary, robbery, larceny and auto theft combined. Yet there is very little recourse or justice for most victims of wage theft,” Marcher said.

“As a queer low-income single parent living in subsidized housing, I spend a lot of time speaking with my neighbors who are struggling in today’s economy. Renters are being squeezed by increasing rents and neglectful management practices that can cause injury to renters. Collective action helps renters have their rights respected and their needs addressed. We are facing a housing crisis we need affordable housing for all of our neighbors,” Marcher said.

Marcher has reported $1,300 in fundraising to the state Public Disclosure Commission.

Hannah Stone

Councilwoman Hannah Stone is seeking her second full term representing Ward 1 on the Bellingham City Council, after being appointed to the council in 2018 to replace Roxanne Murphy as the at-large member.

A resident of the Columbia neighborhood, Stone has a BA in international relations and Spanish language from Meredith College and a law degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has a private practice that focuses on helping clients with U.S. immigration and citizenship law.

She served as council president from 2021-22, chairing meetings and supervising protocols, and has served on the Opportunity Council board of directors since 2019.

Stone promotes what she calls the ABC’s of her platform: affordable Housing, behavioral health and climate action.

“Development of affordable housing requires intentional investment in the full continuum of housing needs,” Stone told The Herald.

Stone said she’d use the city’s Infill Housing Toolkit to implement new state laws aimed at middle-income housing in neighborhoods “and adopt inclusionary zoning policies that mandate a percentage of all development to be permanently affordable.”

Her plans for the next 18 months include a community development “needs assessment,” to examine the housing market with an eye toward low-income households.

“Then in 2025, our community will update the Comprehensive Plan which strategically guides Bellingham’s growth. In addition to policy development, I am committed to identify partners, allocate funding, and support the staffing levels necessary for implementation,” she said.

Stone is endorsed by the Young Democrats of Western Washington University, the Northwest Washington Central Labor Council, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers local 191 and several elected leaders, including 42nd District state Sen. Sharon Shewmake, D-Bellingham, and 42nd District state Rep. Joe Timmons, D-Bellingham, 40th District state Rep. Alex Ramel, D-Bellingham, and Whatcom County Councilmember Kaylee Galloway.

Stone has raised $1,455 for her campaign, according to the state Public Disclosure Commission.

Eamonn Collins

Eamonn Collins of Birchwood is a chemistry and physics teacher at Lummi Nation School.

Collins, who has a bachelor’s degree in journalism and political science from the University of Wisconsin, a master’s degree in education from Marquette University and a master’s degree in science education from Western Governors University, is accredited with the state Office of the Superintendent for Public Instruction.

He serves as the treasurer of Kulshan Community Land Trust and is a former staff member of U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn.

Collins said he’d prioritize removing regulatory barriers to the creation of affordable homes and enhance tenant protections, find ways to support affordable housing and make local government more responsive.

“The planning process is slow, complex, and expensive; non-profit developers of permanently affordable homes should not be bound to restrictive zoning, minimum lot-size requirements, or restrictions in in-fill development,” he told The Herald.

“Bellingham can empower local organizations with expertise building affordable homes with modest personnel grants — providing funding to hire project managers to quickly scale-up their development pipeline. Our elected leaders have not demonstrated the necessary urgency in relieving the housing affordability crisis,” he said.

He is endorsed by Bellingham City Councilwoman Kristina Michele Martens, the Riveters Collective, the Bellingham Tenants Union, the 42nd Legislative District Democrats and listed as a certified Democrat by the Whatcom Democrats.

Collins has raised $4,073 for his campaign and spent $9,787, according to the state Public Disclosure Commission.