Battle Ground City Council is back at a full seven members as a candidate for the open seat in this year’s election received an interim appointment.
During a special June 15 meeting, the city council appointed Dan Dingman to the vacant position 3 seat. The seat was vacated by former councilor Shauna Walters, who moved out of city limits.
Dingman said after retiring from a 35-year career in the paper industry, he has time to serve on the part-time council.
“I never thought I would do this, but with my day job ending I suddenly have time, and I’ve got skills from that day job that I think will well serve the city,” Dingman said.
Dingman supported the work on road improvements in Battle Ground, such as the state Route 502/503 intersection, Main Street and Grace Avenue intersection, and on Onsdorff Boulevard through to Grace Avenue.
On a more long-term sales, Dingman wants developers to be required to do more work to benefit the younger generation. He gave an example of developments including trails that don’t appeal to kids, as opposed to other park features.
“We need to hold our developers to a high standard … so that we get good developments that are consistent with the other construction around them,” Dingman said.
He acknowledged the city’s growth put pressure on keeping its past aesthetic.
“We’re not necessarily going to have the small-town feel that Battle Ground had in 1980, but we want to maintain a very good feel in the new development that goes into this city,” Dingman said.
Dingman said he would like to see the city build some sort of a sports complex. He said he sung the national anthem at the Ridgefield Outdoor Recreation Complex for a Ridgefield Raptors game and was impressed with what he saw.
“I would love to see Battle Ground do something like that,” Dingman said.
He also wants to keep building on what the city already has. He provided Harvest Days as an example, suggesting the possibility of finding a new, dedicated location for the event.
Dingman currently serves on the city’s planning commission. Since the start of the year, he’s made a point to see how the city works by attending every meeting he could.
“You guys have seen my face here at virtually every meeting since Jan. 1,” Dingman said. “I wanted to know what goes on at these meetings, what people do here, and what is going on in our city.”
Dingman was asked about his understanding of the state’s Growth Management Act, a law that influences how cities do their land use planning.
To his understanding, the Growth Management Act “allows the state to dictate how much growth we have to plan for.”
He said the act put boundaries around what the city could do and limited what restrictions it could put on development. Because of that, he said the city needs to be proactive in building transportation systems for incoming development.
Dingman was also asked about the council’s proclamations for times like Black History Month and Pride Month. The latter generated much discussion among the council earlier in the meeting.
He said he would have approved the Pride Month proclamation on principle.
“This isn’t a religious organization, this is a civil government, and they are all members of our society, and they all play a part in our society,” Dingman said.
Dingman wants the city to keep homelessness in Battle Ground from becoming as much of an issue as it is in Portland, Vancouver and Longview.
“I have lots of compassion for the homeless. I give from our income to help the homeless,” Dingman said. “But we don’t want to have street camping here. We don’t want it to get out of control.”
Dingman believes the city’s biggest expenses in the future will be on roads and public safety. He favored the latter as a priority.
“If I was given one or the other, I’d rather drive on a bumpy road and be safe than have a nice, smooth road and not have a good police force,” Dingman said.
On how he would represent constituents with different backgrounds and political ideologies, Dingman said it comes down to being “a mature adult.”
“I will talk to anybody,” Dingman said.
Although the council position is nonpartisan, Dingman said he does not belong to any political party.
Dingman was one of two applicants interviewed, alongside Neil Butler, a former city council candidate. The city council advanced three applicants to the public interviews, though Victoria Ferrer, one of the applicants, was not present.
Dingman will face off against Ferrer and Craig Wigginton in the August primary election. The top-two candidates will then compete for the seat in November.
