Washington County Commission District 4 Candidate: Shelley Van Camp

Democratic candidate Shelley Van Camp is the incumbent running in District 4 for Washington County Commission against Incumbent Republican candidate Josh Edens. The Johnson City Press asked a series of questions, and this is her response: The following answers have been edited for clarity. Q: If elected, what goals do you plan to work towards for the next four years? A: I have heard a lot of grumbling about the current County commissioners. I hear that they are out of touch, they don't listen to their constituents. I hear that they act in their own best interests and not that of the community. Many people believe that they walk into their meetings with their minds already made up. This belief has even caused some to claim that they plan/stage their votes. We have seen commissioners become combative with members of the public that disagree with them. I want to restore confidence in the commission. The people of Washington County should feel confident that their commissioner will listen to them with respect and an open mind. There should be open discussion and debate in the meetings. I plan to ask questions about the issues before the commission. Input from the public is necessary. Deliberation must be done in public. The public deserves to know the thought processes behind decisions. Q: What experience equips you to take on an elected official role? A: Government should NOT be run like a business — businesses are in business to make money. Government should be run like a household — where the health, safety and welfare of all is what is of the utmost importance. I raised two boys as the wife of an enlisted Air Force member. I spent countless hours trying to figure out how to balance needs against our available budget. I learned how to differentiate between wanted and needed. Before he retired from the Air Force, we lived in multiple states and spent 6 years overseas. This means that I have experienced other ways of doing things that people who have lived here their whole lives have not seen. I will not come to the table with the same assumptions they do. Moving often means I have work experience in many areas. I've been a stay-at-home mom; worked in health care as an aide and as a nurse; spent time in education from kindergarten to adult; been in sales, customer service, and food service. I have held multiple leadership roles in volunteer organizations. This gives me a wide range of experience in operations and problem solving. Q: Why can constituents trust you to make educated decisions? A: I listen with an open mind and ask questions. I have sat through numerous County Commission meetings. It looks as though most commissioners just rubberstamp the recommendations presented to them. There is little to no questioning or discussion before a decision is voted upon. On the rare occasion they ask questions the answer appears to be disregarded. For example, when the person giving the report about the economic impact of BWXT was asked if the impact would change without the expansion, even though the answer was no, there would be no change in economic boost, the expansion was approved. Q: How will you ensure your decisions align with what your constituents want? A: You cannot please everybody. Some decisions will leave some people unhappy whatever I decide. However, if presented with a petition that has more than 11,000 signatures, I would not consider that an insufficient number and it would certainly sway my opinion. I am aware that I do not know everything. I will ask questions and debate issues. I will approach issues with that awareness even though I may already have an opinion. I am capable of changing my mind when new information comes to light. Q: If elected, what will you bring to the table that current officials are not offering for constituents? A: Time, attendance and love of learning. The incumbent that I am running against is a very busy man. He is a full-time teacher, softball coach and both associate and youth pastor. While all of those are admirable, they leave little time to devote to the County Commission, as evidenced by his attendance record. At this point in time, he has missed 19 % of Commission meetings. County Commissioners are required to complete orientation training and 8 hours of annual training. Unfortunately, this regulation has no teeth. Many of our commissioners, including my opponent, have not met this requirement, while others have exceeded it. I love learning new information and am eager to learn more about the finer points of government. I pledge to meet this requirement and hope to exceed it.