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

Council member Libby Wennstrom — elected in 2022 — has lived in Port Townsend since 1998. She first visited Port Townsend in 1986 for a Centrum writer’s conference and fell in love with the area.

“I’ve raised my kids here; my daughter was born here, we moved here, and my son was not quite four,” she said. “It was very important to me that this was such a great place to raise a family, and one thing I really lose sleep over is that I think it’s getting harder and harder for families to manage to stay here.”

Outside of her council role, Wennstrom works in high tech, managing software transition projects for the state Attorney General’s Office, and serves as a board member and costume designer for Port Townsend’s Saltfire Theatre. “I did the costumes for the production of The Hobbit that is on at the fairgrounds right now,” she said. “This is actually the 50th year I’ve been doing theatre costumes. I started in middle school.”

Before joining the city council, Wennstrom volunteered for several local organizations, including the Wooden Boat Foundation, Jefferson Land Trust, the Port Townsend Marine Science Center. She also worked as an arts editor for The Leader.

In her role on the city council, Wennstrom said that one of her strengths is her ability to listen to different perspectives and edit the language of agenda bills to solve the issues the community is concerned with.

“I would say that my fellow councilors are really very dedicated to listening to what people have to say,” Wennstrom said. “My biggest request to the community would be to assume positive intent. I think a lot of people get hot and bothered about something without maybe getting enough background on how that decision came about.”

Wennstrom serves on the City Council Finance and Budget Committee, the Jefferson Broadband Action Team and the Jefferson County Board of Health. 

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

A: I summed this up on my campaign site, and the reasons haven’t changed much: After 27 years in Port Townsend, I’ve frequently seen our community’s willingness to pitch in and make things happen. As a longtime community leader, I’ve often been a part of this effort, from organizing pandemic mask-making, to serving on multiple non-profit boards, to volunteering in the schools. I’ve served on a wide variety of teams doing all kinds of projects, and I’m good at bringing people together and helping them find common ground.  ​Local politics matter; having a solid understanding of both our unique opportunities and our very real challenges can help us ‘get it right’ when setting City policy. I chose to raise my family here because I cared deeply about this place; now it’s my turn to help do the work of keeping Port Townsend a place we all want to live. Some weeks it’s hard to feel motivated.  The work is challenging and often thankless, and you have to grow a thick skin. I do see a ton of positive changes that have happened during my time on council, and I’ve really enjoyed growing a deep understanding of how our City works.

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

A: For most of my years here, I’ve consistently seen people pull together when it matters most. Nearly everyone who lives here cares deeply about this place, and is very much here by choice. This community has “chosen differently” than most small rural communities, and those choices have created something special and unique. I also think that being isolated here on our not-quite-an-island has given us a fair measure of resilience and adaptability, and that serves us well.

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

A: Housing. If we can’t create options for working people to live here, we will cease to exist as an actual functioning city. Our restaurant servers and phlebotomists and payroll clerks and bus drivers and parks maintenance staff are all a vital part of what makes this place work. If they can’t find a home here, everyone loses. Council and staff have been actively trying to reduce barriers for creating housing. We were the first city in the state to eliminate residential off-street parking requirements. We’ve changed zoning to make it easier to build ADUs and permitted Tiny Homes on Wheels. Our current Comp Plan amendment work is taking a hard look at ways that our zoning can better encourage housing. This problem didn’t happen overnight, and it won’t be solved overnight, but this council is making it a top priority. 

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

A: On a rare occasion when I have a free weekend, I like to get breakfast at the Moose with friends, walk my dog on the beach, go to the farmer’s market, and putter around at home. Several months a year, I’m spending every weekend working on a theatre production, and that’s pretty much my favorite thing I do.  And I usually spend my Sundays reading the Council Packet.

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

We’re all here because we’re not all there? It’s a hard place to explain.