Catch ‘Karen’s Communiques’ on YouTube
It’s been less than a month since Clark County Councilor Karen Bowerman was elected to serve as chair after former chair Eileen Quiring O’Brien stepped down following announcement of her plans to resign at the end of the month. But Bowerman has already stepped up to the leadership role.
In an effort to reach out to more of her constituents, Bowerman has turned to YouTube with “Karen’s Communiques,” a weekly video overview of council news, issues and events.
The videos are generally less than 10 minutes long and cover of variety of subjects. For example, one video covered the application and interview process for candidates to replace Quiring O’Brien, COVID case rates, and the Ending Community Homelessness Organization, or ECHO, an effort between the county, the city of Vancouver and other cities in the county. The new advisory group will support the county as the lead agency on regional homeless response and assist collaboration on projects and initiatives to address homelessness.
Bowerman’s most recent communique posted Feb. 19 focused on the candidate interviews for the District 5 council seat.
“I thank all who applied because it is my pleasure to have the opportunity to talk with you and interview you. In less than a week I will announce the three nominees and immediately after that the council will select the one to fill the vacancy by Councilor Quiring O’Brien on her last day,” Bowerman said in the video.
Bowerman released the names of the candidates on Feb. 25, with interviews scheduled for March 2. The candidates are Dick Rylander Jr., Thomas Schenk and Peter Silliman.
Bowerman also talked about the buildable lands report the council will again review on March 1. Bowerman noted among the topics to be discussed is the conclusion “that Clark County has sufficient capacity to accommodate employment and residential land needs through 2035. Hopefully some ground truthing will be done to make on the ground corrections of buildable lands.”
She said too often employers and developers are finding lands listed as buildable are actually –and for a variety of reasons – unavailable, which had led to employers turning to other counties for their needs.
“We want employments lands for jobs so that a third of our working population that crosses the bridge for work can find work right here,” she said.
Bowerman also discussed the failed redistricting process.
“Here we are, a week later and in exactly the same spot. When this gets to council’s agenda again, I’ll explain right here in my communique what the decision is. Whether by the courts or by the council,” Bowerman said.
The next Karen’s Communiques is expected to be posted during the weekend. All of Bowerman’s video can be found on her YouTube channel at https://bit.ly/3BVHtMJ.
— Shari Phiel
