6/25/25 city council application:

City Council Application

As a candidate to a public agency legislative body this application (which includes the information you enter into it) will be available to the City Council and the public upon request. This includes attachments to the application (cover letter, resume, etc.). Date 6/25/2025 I live within the City limits of Blaine Yes I am a registered voter in Whatcom County Yes I have lived within the City limits of Blaine for one year Yes Name Jay Taber Email Address tbarj@yahoo.com Address 715 G Street #22, Blaine WA 98230 Phone Number (360) 371-4387 Occupation retired journalist Education Master of Arts in Humanities and Leadership 2002 Defender of Democracy award 2000 Personal/Community Activities member of Blaine Water Coalition speakers bureau in 2025 initiated the local artist exhibition program at Blaine Public Library in 2022 assisted Northwest Justice in 2017 federal court case to preserve low-income senior housing in Blaine Qualifications Related to the Position communications expert Growth Management expert Describe why you are interested in serving on the Blaine City Council. The malevolent reign of Blaine Mayor Mary Lou Steward 2020-25 exhibits the crisis of leadership in our city government characterized by malice aforethought. The misguided policies and criminal misconduct of her administration bring shame on our community. The resignation of Councilman Mike Hill--implicated in numerous counts of self-dealing--is an opportunity for a new beginning in Blaine, free of the blatant corruption by Blaine officials. The City of Blaine proposal for an Urban Growth Area (UGA) on the Semiahmoo Uplands to locate one thousand luxury homes for new wealthy residents--plus an Urban Growth Reserve Area nearby--states that in order to fund electric, water, and sewer upgrades to serve these luxury homes, UTILITY BILLS FOR EXISTING RESIDENTS OF BLAINE WILL NEED TO BE SIGNIFICANTLY INCREASED. This is class warfare. Corruption by Blaine officials in planning and permitting Planned Unit Developments for luxury housing on the Semiahmoo Peninsula, and recurring perjury by the city manager Mike Harmon and development director Alex Wenger, is intended to deceive the city council. This, and State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) fraud in the environmental determinations by Blaine Community Development Services for the Critical Aquifer Recharge Area (CARA)--our drinking water--as well as at the mouth of Dakota Creek, disturb me greatly.  The City of Blaine has neglected to have meaningful consultation with Lummi Nation regarding their cultural and natural resources in the Drayton Harbor watershed--especially on Semiahmoo Spit where the city is proposing to locate 211 luxury condominiums on the site of an ancient Lummi village at Tongue Point. Given the city's atrocious behavior toward Lummi Nation in 1999, when Blaine intentionally desecrated a Lummi burial ground on the spit, it is unconscionable that such disdain toward our Indigenous neighbors continues. The 2024 Central Business District rezone votes were laden with financial conflicts of interest by downtown developers Gurdeep Bains and Councilman Mike Hill. The recent UMU rezone was approved by Blaine Planning Commissioner Sam Randhawa, who is the real estate agent at Freeman Real Estate for the properties rezoned, voting himself a $50,000 windfall in commission value and a $2 million increase for his clients. We need a planning commission elected by Blaine voters, not appointed by crooked politicians! A related interest of mine is public participation, especially citizen oversight of the city council, planning commission, and city manager. I believe now is the time to initiate plans for Blaine voters to elect an ethics commission to carry out this vital community function. The present city council appointed three realtors to the planning commission, and this embedded conflict of interest has turned the commission into a sham. The present council refused to adopt a code of ethics, and the behavior of City Manager Mike Harmon at the June 23, 2025 city council meeting is ample evidence of why a code is desperately needed at city hall. Harmon recommended the city council diverge from the Blaine City Council Rules of Procedure in order to appoint Sarbie Bains (Gurdeep's wife) to fill the vacancy left by Mike Hill's June 11, 2025 resignation. Harmon even announced that "Mike Hill endorses her." What message does that send to others who might want to apply? The council wisely opposed Harmon's blatant favoritism toward his friend's wife and the inappropriate use of his office for this purpose. Harmon should be fired ASAP. I believe the only way forward for the City of Blaine is for Blaine citizens who have been fighting corruption at city hall for the last three years to persuade the Washington Attorney General, Washington State Auditor, and the U.S. Department of Justice Public Integrity Unit to assist us with much-needed civic reform--beginning with prosecutions of Mike Harmon and Alex Wenger. The criminal enterprise that now routinely characterizes staff conduct under these two is destroying our environment and bankrupting our city. DO YOU OR YOUR SPOUSE HAVE A FINANCIAL INTEREST IN, OR ARE YOU AN EMPLOYEE OR OFFICER OF ANY BUSINESS OR AGENCY WHICH DOES BUSINESS WITH THE CITY? No If yes, please explain: Field not completed. Please confirm your residency within Blaine city limits before submitting your application Yes Applicant Signature Jay Taber Date 6/25/2025 Upload Documents Field not completed. You will be informed of the status of your application via the email address you provided. As a candidate to a public agency legislative body this application (which includes the information you enter into it) will be available to the City Council and the public upon request. This includes attachments to the application (cover letter, resume, etc.).