The poverty rate in Clallam County hovers around 10.8%, meaning more than 8,200 residents live below the poverty line. According to Data USA, the largest demographic groups living in poverty here are White, Hispanic, and multiracial residents.
Yet on Tuesday morning, at the 10:00 a.m. County Commissioner meeting, residents will be treated to a proclamation claiming county residents “occupy Tribal ancestral land” and that “systemic racism toward Indigenous People perpetuates high rates of poverty and income inequality.”
In other words, the commissioners will divide the gallery into victims and oppressors determined by race — all while asking those same taxpayers next month to raise their property taxes to fund pet projects like paying a county poet laureate. Meanwhile, the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe, with 209 local members and $86 million in annual revenue, is exempt from many taxes on its sovereign lands.
How’s that for income inequality?
If you’re tired of symbolic gestures that sidestep real local hardship, Tuesday is your chance to speak up. The public comment period opens right at 10:00 a.m., before the proclamation is read. Later, during the Commissioners’ Forum, residents can directly question the very leaders who make these decisions.
Can’t attend in person? You can still make your voice heard. Submit your question in the comments below — or take one from a fellow reader — and make sure it’s asked. Democracy only works when people show up.
📍 Clallam County Board of County Commissioners
223 East 4th Street, Room 160
Port Angeles, Washington
🕙 October 7, 2025, at 10:00 a.m.
Click here for directions and virtual attendance options.
Have a comment for your county commissioners? Write them all by emailing the Clerk of the Board: loni.gores@clallamcountywa.gov
Watch. Question. Hold them accountable — the price of bad governance is paid locally.
In his Sequim Gazette column, Commissioner Ozias claimed that the Towne Road realignment project cost local taxpayers less than $1.1 million. But according to the County Administrator’s own presentation to the Board of Commissioners, $1,305,978 in local funds were spent, drawn from the County Road Fund and Real Estate Excise Tax funds. Which figure is accurate?
At a time when commissioners are considering cutting essential services and asking residents to raise their property taxes, how do you justify spending taxpayer money on a county poet laureate position?