Royal city woman wants seat

ROYAL CITY — Cindy Carter doesn’t describe herself as a typical politician. “I’m a mom in irrigating boots,” she said.

Carter, a life-long Grant County resident, manages payroll and accounting duties for several of her family’s businesses, including Callahan Manufacturing, Agri-Pac, Royal Turf Farms and Callahan Dairy. The 39-year-old mother of three also operates a 1,700-acre farm about three miles west of Royal City with her husband and serves as a substitute teacher for the Royal School District. 

Now, she is running for an open seat on the Grant County Commission. Incumbent Deborah Moore, who currently holds the seat, is not seeking re-election.

“I would just like to see some representation from the south part of Grant County,” Carter, a Republican, said. She promised to maintain an open-door policy, listen to concerns and act promptly, representing all citizens equally.

Carter said the county appears “under budgeted and understaffed to address the needs of a growing population.” Annual business growth is 6-8 percent, she said, while “financial budget allotted growth” is 1 percent.

“I will work towards responsible fiscal management, striving to find a solution to best serve the needs of this county with the current economic trends and shortfalls,” she said.

To accommodate the projected growth, she plans to improve efficiency in the county’s planning department.

“We will see a huge jump in growth with all the new developments,” Carter said. “We need to be ready for this. We need strategic planning and not just now, but for the future.”

Carter first became motivated to run for county commissioner after the county declined to crack down on an industrial dairy in Royal City that was the source of a stench, smelled across town, emanating from its manure-storage lagoon.

A group of up to 30 Royal City residents, she said, went to the courthouse to complain about the stinky lagoon, run by Smith Brothers Farms.

“We took time out of our day to go over to the courthouse to address this issue only to be told ‘we will not be addressing this,’” Carter said. “It was very frustrating and very maddening.”

She directed the group, at the request of others, as it worked on behalf of families exposed to the stench. The strange odor smelled much worse than a typical dairy farm, she said. “And we had no help, we felt, from the county commissioners.”

“Somebody needed to represent these people, because they really felt they had no voice,” Carter said. “It was almost like we were second-class citizens because we could not afford to fight for our rights.”

The group was eventually offered $500,000 in a settlement with Smith Brothers, but declined the offer, Carter said. They requested the money be spent improving the waste management problems at the dairy facility. The issue, she said, has been resolved to everyone’s satisfaction.

“It wasn’t a money issue,” Carter said. “We just wanted our lives back to the way they were.”

Smith Brothers has since endorsed her campaign, along with the Washington State Farm Bureau political action committee.

If elected, she would fight for all of Grant County the way she fought for her neighbors in Royal City, Carter said.