Members of Grayland Neighborhood Watch and all other interested South Beach citizens will meet at 7 p.m. at the Grayland Community Hall this evening. The planned guest speaker is Randy Ross, who is running for the GH County Commission seat that represents the South Beach, currently held by Frank Gordon.
All South Beach citizens are invited to attend.
The following is a profile on Mr. Ross written by The Daily World Editor, Doug Barker, on Dec. 3:
Randy Ross, a banker and former chairman of the Greater Grays Harbor Inc. economic development organization, announced in late November that he is running for the Grays Harbor County Commission seat now held by Frank Gordon, who represents the South Beach. Gordon was elected in Nov. 2012. His term started Jan. 1, 2013 and will expire Dec. 31 of this year.
Ross, 60, works as a commercial loan officer for The Bank of the Pacific. The finance experience would be an advantage on the commission, he said.
“I spend my days reading financial statements, tax returns and analyses … . It gives me a lot of experience in negotiating positions and interpreting (the position of a business),” he said. He drew a parallel comparing the county to businesses that have struggled. “It’s not all about what we’ve done in the past, but what we do in the future and that’s what we’re about in the county,” he said.
Ross is not affiliated with a political party and says “… at the county level it’s not about party politics. It’s about doing the best thing for the county.”
He is married and has three daughters. He was born in Chewelah in northeast Washington and taught for a short time before entering the banking profession. His family moved to Aberdeen in 1990 when he took a job as a bank branch manager. He has also worked in the investment and insurance businesses.
He’s a member of several service clubs, has been a board member for the Aberdeen Neighborhood Housing Authority, the Aberdeen Senior Center, the food distribution network for Grays Harbor and Pacific counties and Timberland Opportunities.
He’s currently serving on the Aberdeen Planning Commission, the Grays Harbor Community Hospital Foundation board, the Aberdeen Rotary Club board, the Aberdeen library board and the Greater Grays Harbor Inc. board.
Ross says the county is in an economic crisis and commissioners have responded by spending reserves.
The county’s budget is like that of a household or a business, he said: If revenues and expenses don’t match, revenue has to be increased or expenses cut. “If we overspend, we have to borrow and I don’t think we are in a borrowing mode, but that’s what we’re doing to our future” when reserves are used to balance the budget, he said.
The past year on the county commission has been marked by rancor between commissioners Gordon and Vickie Raines, who joined the board last January. The disagreement is holding the commission back, Ross said. “It’s a matter of getting the commission all on the same page and seeing what can be done, not arguing about what can’t be done,” he said.
Asked if he thought Gordon was the source of the problem, he said, “The commissioner’s job is to work with his other commissioners and find ways to work through the problems. Somebody has to be the adult in the room and move forward. The commission as a group needs to do a better job at getting along.”