Council races offer new, familiar faces this year

At least one face on the Port Orchard City Council will definitely change this fall, given that Fred Olin didn’t file for re-election before last Friday’s deadline.

When asked about his decision, Olin’s response was a terse, “No comment,” which could mean anything from he felt one term was enough for anyone to he flat-out forgot he needed to re-file.

In any case, Olin’s seat will be occupied starting next year by either stay-at-home mom Amy Miller, who aims to represent families on the council, or Cindy Lucarelli, a fixture at council meetings after losing races to incumbents John Clauson in 2007 and Carolyn Powers in 2009.

Lucarelli’s loss to Powers — the council’s longest-serving member — was nail-biter, suggesting she enters the race with an established base of support, but it remains to be seen how much that will mean if Miller can overcome her name-recognition disadvantage.

In the council’s only other contested race, first-term incumbent Jerry Childs faces a challenge from 25-year-old high school English teacher Ben Pinneo.

Childs, a retired Seattle Fire Department captain, conceived the idea for the Debbie Macomber-inspired Cedar Cove Days and chairs the city’s Tourism Committee.

He was elected to his first term in 2007 with 62 percent of the vote.

Despite his thin résumé, Pinneo’s website quotes him as saying, “I believe that our community should demand high standards and accountability for all our public officials, and I believe that hard work, responsibility, and respect and love for others are the foundations upon which an individual’s character is built.”

Clauson and first-term Councilman Jim Colebank will be unopposed in the election.

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