Sen. Hawkins second annual Listening Tour visits Chelan

CHELAN – Visiting Chelan for his second annual listening tour was Sen. Brad Hawkins.

On the morning of Wednesday, Sept. 12. Hawkins met with Chelan Mayor Mike Cooney, Lake Chelan School District officials, Chelan Fire District officials, the Seven Acres Group and citizens of Chelan.

“It has been really good just to hear from everybody. We talked about school funding, we talked about wildfires, affordable housing and other important issues to the community here,” said Sen. Hawkins.

This year was a great turnout for the Listening Tour, “we came a little early and extended the time and stayed a little bit later.”

According to Hawkins, “it has been a very positive response, pretty much everywhere we have gone. This idea of the Listening Tour was one that I started last year, it was just an effort to trying to reach out and connect with different people in a unique and different way.”

In Chelan, one of the concerns brought to Sen. Hawkins was education funding. “The State of Washington recently implemented some education reforms at the state level,  for increase funding to schools and local levy reforms,” he explained.

Due to such reforms a discussion between Lake Chelan School District board members and Hawkins took place.

Hawkins also had a “good discussion” with Mayor Cooney and Rachel Goldie on affordable housing. In the talks were, making sure housing in Chelan and Manson area is affordable for people to live here. “By keeping houses affordable here, we’ll  help provide that steady stream of employment opportunities for younger families,” said Hawkins.

The Seven Acres group spoke about “the idea of a community center …that was something I first heard of today,” clarified Hawkins.

Some of the issues the community addressed to Sen. Hawkins he was aware of, however he is always learning more about them.

Locals that meet with Hawkins also have questions for him and he is always there to clarify anything.

“People have been able to utilize these stops for multiple resources,” Hawkins said.

Two things always in mind for Hawkins are being accessible to people he serves and being a good listener.

“Having the opportunity to travel throughout the District and connect with people, hear their thoughts and concerns is really important to me. It helps me do my job better,” said Hawkins.

By being a good listener, Hawkins is able to be a good policy maker. “I have a better sense of what the thoughts are, and the issues and the needs of the different communities are,” the Senator said.

On his Listening Tour, Hawkins brings staff from Olympia, “we take the staff resources from Olympia to the different communities and we are ready to answer questions, research issues, develop budget requests and things like that.”

Since the area Sen. Hawkins is responsible for is so large, he wants to make sure all communities are represented and he wants them to have a voice. “I do not want someone who is in a community in the outer areas to feel under represented.”

Now with all the information and all notes in hand, Sen. Hawkins will go back to Olympia and get ready for the Legislature in January. “Having time in the fall, gives us an opportunity to be successful in the legislative arena … because it is a very competitive arena and there’s a finite amount of resources,” said Hawkins.

The Listening Tour kicked off in Leavenworth, followed by Cashmere, Wenatchee, Chelan, Coulee City, Soap Lake, Waterville, Bridgeport and Twisp. “It is a lot of ground to cover, but it is great way to be efficient and make ourselves available,” said Hawkins.

The tour concluded with a community hike Friday morning at the Patterson Mountain trail near Winthrop.

 Sen. Hawkins hopes to continue with the Listening Tour every year.