By Chris Hendrickson, Monitor
Sultan businessman Bart Dalmasso will run as a write-in candidate for Sultan City Council Position 6, which is being vacated by Kristina Blair.
The 73-year-old real estate broker announced his candidacy after Geoffrey Evans withdrew from the race. He will run against Marianne Naslund, who is the administrative secretary for the Sultan School District at Sky Valley Options Alternative High School.
This will be Dalmasso's third attempt to win a seat on the city council; he ran against Steve Slawson in 2005 and Joe Neigel in 2011.
Dalmasso has lived in Washington nearly all his life and has been in the Sky Valley since the early 1980s. He has lived in Gold Bar, Monroe and Sultan, and served on Sultan's Planning Commission for five years.
Dalmasso said he feels city council has been heavily weighted with government employees and would like to offer citizens the option to vote for a local businessman who has weathered a few storms in his day.
Dalmasso's goals include determining a method of growth for Sultan which remains environmentally sound and preserves the feel of a small town; increasing new businesses in the community, as well as job opportunities; and lowering costs for residents.
"My main objective is to try and find ways to reduce the cost of our local government and pass that on to the citizens,GÇ¥ said Dalmasso.
The cost of government within Sultan has been an ongoing concern of Dalmasso's, and about three years ago he was involved in creating a petition to disincorporate the city. He feels that some people may have misunderstood his motive.
"It wasn't to tear the city up and float it down the river like many people think,GÇ¥ said Dalmasso. "It was an attempt to cut the cost of living in this community.GÇ¥
Dalmasso wants to work to lower the costs of public utilities in Sultan. He has recently been involved in a lawsuit against the city for what some citizens feel has been the improper allocation of city funds. The citizens banded together, forming a group called the Utility Stakeholders' Group. The group alleges that the city used money from the utility fund to pay for unrelated staff time.
Dalmasso is aligning himself politically with candidates Kay George, who is running for Position 3, and Bob McCarty, who is running for Position 1.
"All three of us are of similar mindsets,GÇ¥ said Dalmasso.
One thing they all agree on is the privatization of the city's garbage service, which they feel could cut the cost of garbage service by nearly half. The Stakeholders' Group has agreed that they would withdraw the lawsuit if council would vote to change the city's garbage service to a private garbage collection company.
"One of the things that all of us are committed to do is resolve the lawsuit that a group of citizens, myself included, have against the city for what we believe is misappropriation of funds,GÇ¥ said Dalmasso.
Being a write-in candidate means that his name will not be on the ballot. Folks who wish to vote for him will need to write in his name. He is asking people to simply write BART for Position 6 on their ballots.
"Mainly I want people to get out and vote, even if they vote for my opponent,GÇ¥ said Dalmasso.
Editor's Note: The Monitor will do an in-depth interview with both candidates in an upcoming issue.
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