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Whatcom County voters have chosen their slate of 15 commissioners to review and propose amendments to the county charter.
Whatcom is one of only seven counties in the state that operate under home rule charter. The charter is essentially a local constitution. Once a decade, an elected group of citizens takes a year to review essential elements of how the county is governed, such as what powers elected officials hold, how citizens are represented and how elections work.
In the general election, voters from each of the five county council districts chose three charter review commissioners to represent them. The commission will convene in January and will meet through 2025 before bringing their proposals to the county council and to voters.
The charter review commission is nonpartisan, but every winning candidate was endorsed by either the Whatcom County Republican Party or the Whatcom Democrats. If all winning candidates choose to serve, the commission will have eight Democrat-endorsed members and seven Republican-endorsed members.
The progressive strongholds of District 1 and 2 in Bellingham will be represented by Liz Darrow, Andrew Reding, Joel Pitts-Jordan, Colton Kaltenfeldt, Eamonn Collins and Maya Morales. Darrow is the precinct committee officer for Precinct 238 and a delegate to the 2024 State Democratic Convention. Reding is the Whatcom Democrats Chair, and Pitts-Jordan has worked in legislative capacities for the Attorney General’s Office and Department of Health.
Kaltenfeldt serves on the Whatcom County Child & Family Well-Being Task Force and the board of Whatcom Democrats. Collins teaches chemistry and environmental science at the Lummi Nation School and volunteers as vice president of the Kulshan Community Land Trust. Morales is a legislative advocate and community organizer.
In District 3, which encompasses the eastern part of the county, two Democrat-endorsed commissioners, Jessica Rienstra and Jennifer Wright, will join Republican-endorsed commissioner Doug Chadwick. Rienstra is a Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner and Wright co-chairs the Child & Family Well-Being Task Force. Chadwick, a Western Washington University graduate, has served in law enforcement for three decades.
District 4 voters in historically conservative Lynden and the surrounding areas chose Brad Kelly, Joe Elenbaas and Hannah Ordos to represent them on the charter review commission. Businessman Kelly has owned Kelly’s Piano Service for three decades. Elenbaas not only has the unique distinction of serving on every charter review commission thus far, but also helped draft it as a freeholder in 1979. Ordos serves as a Be-the-One mentor and Whatcom Support Officer.
In District 5, which includes Blaine, Ferndale and Lummi, Republican-endorsed Rod Stump, Lindsey Graham Elenbaas and Jon Mutchler will join the commission. Stump works in residential and industrial construction, and Elenbaas has experience in finance, real estate and community service. Mutchler brings significant government experience, having served as council member and mayor of Ferndale and as a charter review commissioner in 2015.
All biographical information on commissioners is from the Whatcom County voter guide. Complete results from the charter review commission races can be found on the Whatcom County website.
Julia Tellman writes about civic issues and anything else that happens to cross her desk; contact her at juliatellman@cascadiadaily.com.
