Rada enters Manchester port race

A late contender has tossed his name into the hat for the 2007 general election. Edward Jones Financial Advisor Ron Rada, 60, of Manchester, has filed as a write-in candidate for Position 2 on the Port of Manchester.

Before Rada’s filing, incumbent Dan Fallstrom, 53, of Western Timber Inc., ran unopposed.

Rada filed late because he lived outside of Manchester while he worked on his property. Now that he is officially living in the community again, he can run for the position.

Filing as a write-in candidate does not put his name on the ballot, but it does require the Kitsap County Auditor’s Office to manually count all of the write-in votes.

Without the filing, the Auditor’s Office would only count write-in votes if the automated tally showed a large number of write-ins.

Rada said he wants to extend the work the port does, utilizing untapped resources.

“There’s a lot of things that any kind of port district can do based on the port charters,” Rada said. “The port districts have all kinds of power and abilities and I just don’t see the Port of Manchester using much of any of it.”

He said Manchester is in need of a community center, and the port could assist in acquiring the property needed.

He also suggested a voluntary boat launching fee that he be-lieves could bring in thousands of dollars annually to pay for maintenance.

Fallstrom now faces opposition in his election. The incumbent has served on the agency twice as a mid-term appointee. He lost his first election after his 1996 appointment onto the board.

He said he hopes to continue his work on the beach front, including moving and changing the stormwater drain that releases contaminated water onto the beach.

“I’ve got a lot of work I’ve started that I’d like to complete,” he said.

Monday evening he presented several proposals for the beach front, including a drain system with a rock filtration component.

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