Compelled to the call to public service, a new member will join the Bingen City Council effective the first of August.
Phil Jones, 65, a 15-year resident of Bingen, was interviewed by the Bigen City Council at its meeting on July 18. Jones will be taking over council member Stephanie Porter’s position. Jones has worked in multiple industries from food service to forest service and currently works through Columbia Gorge Community College as an adult fitness instructor at Hood River Sports Club. He believes that his experiences in these different types of industries will give him more perspective while serving on the council.
When asked why he chose to serve, Jones said there were multiple things that pushed him into the decision, but ultimately guilt pushed him into action.
“A little bit of guilt, really. I’ve lived in this community for 15 years and just felt I needed to con-tribute to it in someway and this seemed like the best opportunity.”
Jones also said the conversation around the proposed consolidation of Bingen and White Salmon and the planned Bingen School Inn transformation also played small roles in his decision.
In a previous Bingen City Council meeting, Jones voiced that he was against the consolidation because he feels that Bingen as a neighborhood rather than its own city would be under-represented. He had already planned to run for a seat on the council, but when Porter’s position opened, he jump-ed on it.
Another reason he gave for why he wanted to join the Bingen City Council, he said jokingly, is “I get bored easily and I need things to do. I imagine that this will keep me pretty busy.”
In a letter to the City Council, Jones confessed that “I’m not the most outspoken person around, but I believe that I am a thoughtful person,” a quality that the full quorum of the council found appealing.
Jones’s position, as well as three others, will be up for election in November. One current member of the City Council, Catherine Kiewit, filed for reelection in May. Jones said he will file for the position during the special three-day filing period in early August.
In other business:
A local athlete proposed installing a disc golf course at Daubenspeck Park due to the impending closure of the one in Hood River. The council worries that the space at the park is too small and would interfere with other activities. But the city is interested in creating a “putting” zone if it can get a basket donated to it from Hood River.
the Underwood Fruit water meter and valve replacement project has been completed.
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