To the editor:

I have worked with Val Tollefson on community-based activities since 1997 and unreservedly endorse him for city council.

Val served as chairman during our work on the Island’s first Harbor Commission 1999-2002. He steered a steady course, considered public input and uniformly recommended policies that supported multiple uses. Throughout his term, Val unerringly found a way to discern and elevate the greatest public benefit above single-issue agendas.

Since then, Val has been a leader in many local organizations, including the land trust and the library. In all of these positions, Val has worked FOR the causes he supports, rather than AGAINST the positions he opposes. This is an important distinction, particularly in a candidate for city council, which all of us know can get mired in wrangling every now and then. Val can be counted on to keep the debate focused and constructive.

More recently, Val and Maryann Tollefson have been neighbors of a community shellfish farm. These kinds of community-based ventures depend entirely on the good will of others – which they have provided in spades. Volunteers descend on their property in hoards to access the beach for monthly harvests and they unfailingly extend a warm welcome to a mud-covered and motley crew.

In sum, I am voting in support of Val for city council. As a clear and effective communicator, I believe he can help harness the machinery of government in service to the island we love.

BETSY PEABODY

Bainbridge Island