Editor’s Note: Behind the Dais is a Q&A-style feature focusing on elected officials. This feature was coordinated by Mallory Kruml.

Port Townsend City Council Member Ben Thomas moved to town as a five-year-old with his working-class commercial fishing family in 1976. He has called Port Townsend home ever since and has done “every little type of side work.”

In 2000, Thomas started an alternative “a little bit out there” newspaper called Vigilance to complement The Leader’s work. While Vigilance halted production years later, Thomas said it informs his citizen journalist approach to his city council position. 

Thomas, elected to council in 2022, hopes to be part of a local government that works toward being as ground-up as possible rather than top-down policymaking. “Besides doing the infrastructure,” he said, “we should be listening to what the community is asking for. Of course, we’re supposed to look down the road at things like the comprehensive plan, but if we’re truly listening to people and what they really want, I just feel like it goes better.”

As far as what informs his decision-making process, Thomas mentioned his six-year-old son and the desire to make Port Townsend a viable and affordable option for the younger generation. Regarding the most rewarding part of his position, Thomas spoke about developing and approving win/win solutions to city-wide issues.

He serves on the Council Culture and Society Committee, the Jefferson Transit Advisory Board, the Joint Growth Management Steering Committee, the Peninsula Regional Transit Organization Executive Board, the Jefferson County Fairgrounds Association and the Port Townsend Arts Commission. 

Outside of his council duties, Thomas works as a vineyard manager and winemaker. 

Q: What initially inspired you to run for your position, and what keeps you motivated to serve in your role?  

A: My original reason for running for City Council was to make sure there was representation for families with young children, an advocate for local businesses and to represent those who feel disenfranchised or alienated from involvement in local government. My main focus in the role has been on meeting people where they’re at, encouraging public participation and cultivating bottom-up decision making. In my interpretation, democracy doesn’t end at the ballot box. Local electeds should not fancy themselves as poorly paid bureaucrats or take cues from national partisan politics. We should constantly be listening, learning and finding win-win outcomes with every problem and opportunity brought before us. At least that’s what I want from my local leaders.

Q: What do you see as a strength of the Port Townsend community?

A: At its best, our community has tremendous ingenuity and resourcefulness. I think this strength has been taken for granted in recent years. There’s an opportunity and a danger in embracing large, consultant-led projects and top-down decision making that can lead to conflict with a large percentage of the community and a higher cost of living. But the community is passionate and is good at speaking louder rather than just assuming it won’t get heard. People get involved, volunteer and show up at the meetings in a wide range of moods. It’s how the public process is supposed to work, and it’s a beautiful thing.

Q: What is the city’s most significant challenge, and how do you plan to help address it?  

A: One thing I’ve always loved about my hometown is the relative lack of class divisions, which has always been in stark contrast to almost everywhere else I’ve been in the world. But I’m worried that we’re heading further along the path to a completely imbalanced community of those with means who look with pitying eyes on the rest as charity cases, while the market, city code and increasing taxes and fees inadvertently conspire to keep the poorest among us from ever gaining a foothold. The gap seems ever widening. I fear this even as I believe that most everyone involved is operating with good intentions. My way of addressing it is to always consider how each decision would impact local working families and to work with diverse perspectives to generate holistic solutions and toward community integration.

Q: What is your favorite way to spend a weekend in Port Townsend? 

A: Going to the farmers market with my family, riding bikes to one of our many beaches, picking up fish and chips from Sea J’s and pairing it with a beer at Propolis then getting a cone at Elevated followed by Art Walk or a movie at the Rose. There are so many options considering how small town our town is, but these days we choose the places a six-year-old can go. 

Q: How do you describe Port Townsend to out-of-towners? 

A: A town rich in beauty, history and creativity that’s currently unaffordable for those who earn an income from local work. A lot of folks move here for what makes it special, then complain about how it doesn’t have a feature that the more populated area that they came from had. As someone who grew up here in the quieter years of the 70s and 80s, that attitude of gentrification gets to me, and yet I appreciate the world experience and skills those folks bring to town. Unfortunately, I’ve more than once had to say to friendly, well-to-do couples that I’ve met out in the world and whose eyes lit up when they hear I’m from PT, “Come visit, but please, whatever you do and however tempting it may be, don’t buy a vacation home in PT.”