With four of seven Sequim City Council seats up for election at the end of 2019, one incumbent has voiced his intent to run.

William Armacost, a 64-year-old hair salon owner, said he plans to run after being appointed to the council in July 2018.

Two of three other incumbents, Deputy Mayor Candace Pratt and Bob Lake, said they do not plan to run while Jennifer States was unavailable for comment by press time.

Candidacy filing week runs May 13-17 through the Clallam County Auditor’s Office in the county courthouse.

Armacost, a Wapakaneta, Ohio-native, said he moved to Sequim in 1984 and opened Changes Salon the following year where it’s remained in the same spot since 1990.

“I’ve been doing hair for 45 years and it’s never turned into work,” he said.

While his salon remained in city limits, Armacost said he lived in Dungeness until six years ago.

“I realized a lot of decisions were being made that affected me, but I couldn’t vote on them,” he said.

The biggest issues he sees facing the city are finding affordable housing for its workforce and preserving safety.

“I think we have to 100 percent support our law enforcement,” he said. “With the unfortunate break-in at FREDS Guns, our community is changing. While living in New York City I learned that if you see something, you should say something.”

Armacost said it’s important for neighbors to engage one another more while being more conscious of our surroundings, such as locking front doors

“We all want to preserve the quality of life here,” he said.

Armacost serves on the city’s Sequim Housing Action Plan Committee and said he finds it important to find affordable housing for Sequim’s workforce — 88 percent of whom are working in the service industry.

“I think there needs to be more options for them,” he said.

Prior to Sequim, Armacost studied at a beauty school in Columbus, Ohio, interned with Vidal Sassoon and served as a spokesperson for Revlon and more. In Sequim, he’s volunteered for various churches and groups, including the Sequim Irrigation Festival.

Pratt

The next election cycle could have been Pratt’s third term with the city council since she came on in 2012. She served as mayor from 2014-15 and was elected last year as Deputy Mayor.

While she’s not planning to run for city council, Pratt said she will vie for a position on the Charter Review Board.

With the city, she serves as Sequim’s representative to the Clallam County-wide Planning Policies advisory board, Shiso Sister City Association and Clallam Transit System Board.

Lake

Lake’s journey to city council began with joining the city’s Parks and Recreation Board before being appointed in January 2016 and elected in 2017. He still serves on the city’s park’s board, its Lodging Tax Advisory Committee and on the Peninsula Responders Emergency Program.

States

States was appointed in January 2018 to the city council. She co-owns Wind Rose Cellars with her husband David Volmut and works as the Business Development Manager for DNV GL – Energy North America. She serves as the city’s representative for the North Olympic Development Council and the Solid Waste Advisory Committee.

Filing

During Candidate Filing Week, candidates can file online at www.clallam.net/elections from 9 a.m. Monday, May 13, to 4 p.m. Friday, May 17. Candidates can also file at the Clallam County Auditor’s Office, 223 E. Fourth St., Suite 1 in Port Angeles, and mail declarations of candidacy by 4:30 p.m. Friday, May 17.

All forms and a list of vacancies are on the county’s website.

For more information, contact Clallam County Elections at 360-417-2217 or bpettigrew@co.clallam.wa.us.

For more on the Sequim City Council, visit www.sequimwa.gov or call 360-683-4139.

Reach Matthew Nash at mnash@sequimgazette.com.