Aaron Kester running for county commissioner

Attention may be the most valuable thing a county commissioner can do for issues, and Aaron Kester, if elected, wants to give his attention to a multitude of issues facing Okanogan County. 

Mental health, housing, and industry maintenance and growth are among what Kester listed to The Star as issues facing Okanogan County.

"Each issue needs direct inspection and attention," Kester wrote in an email, "and although I hate to see it, some issues will not receive needed attention when our most concerning issues demand our attention."

Kester said mental health issues that need to be addressed include those among jail occupants and homeless people, adding that homeless shelters and heating and cooling stations are needed for the county.

Mental health in Okanogan's juvenile detention facility is another key focus of Kester's.

"Family is important to people in Okanogan County, and our youth is the heartbeat of

our communities," he wrote for Okanogan County's voting pamphlet. "If we are to have a detention facility, I want great mental healthcare for our kids before, during, and after finding their way into juvenile detention. I want our youth to become valuable and productive members of our society."

"If we are to have a juvenile detention center to keep our children close to their families and community," he said in his email to The Star, "then I want to strengthen programs to keep kids out of our detention center, help them recover once they're in it, and help them build our community rather than go back to detention or jail."

Kester graduated from Washington State University in 2003 with a degree in Business Administration Entrepreneurship that "not only focuses on the life of small business from inception to succession, but also on corporate business to understand how big business works and small businesses must fight to survive," he explained. 

He is currently a facilities manager for the Okanogan Family Faire, the public relations coordinator for the Okanogan County Tourism Council, as well as a substitute teacher. 

"I learned that being a substitute teacher is exactly what you might imagine it would be in your memories of having a substitute when you were in Elementary, Middle, or High School," he said. "I have had very demanding, challenging, rewarding, and heartfelt experiences in my brief time as a substitute teacher. I learned that at the end of the day I go home and the kids I work with have memories that build who they are for the rest of their lives."

Kester has also worked at North Valley Hospital in Marketing and Community Outreach where he learned that "even hospitals are businesses and sometimes cannot provide every service they would like to provide to their community."

"I do not know what everyone wants, but I listen and I greatly enjoy thinking of ways to make wishes happen," he said about wanting to be commissioner. " I have been involved in numerous organizations in my community and I love to help others. One of my great joys is plowing new fallen snow, using my family's ATV, on the sidewalks throughout Tonasket to help people walking get around easier and shop owners spend precious labor hours elsewhere."

Solar energy is another thing Kester is passionate about, describing it as "a solution to a problem that is not upon us currently, but could be at any of our next rounds of ballots."

"Solar, wind, or hydroelectric power are carbon neutral, and if our county produces carbon-neutral power we are less likely to be taxed into higher power bills by carbon taxes," he said. "One field of solar panels, or one array of wind turbines will not solve our energy needs, but it will be a step to being self-sufficient. Six years ago I learned that a great number of our community members do not like to see wind turbines scattered about the hillsides, and feelings were mixed about Enloe Dam, which is why my focus turned to solar power."

"I am passionate about my community, and I like to see results," he wrote for the voters' pamphlet. "I want to advocate to keep water rights upstream in Okanogan County ... Water is vital to our primary industry of agriculture. Without water on our grounds we do not have green fields or plump fruits on our trees. I do not want to see our water rights sold downstream and never return."

He also wrote that he wants to keep "jobs local, create jobs, maintain primary industry, and create and build new industries."

Kester has, among many positions, served on the Tonasket Chamber of Commerce, the Okanogan County Economic Alliance, worked as co-manager and co-owner of Lee Frank Mercantile, and worked as a methods analyst in industrial engineering for Boeing Company. 

He is running as an independent candidate for Okanogan Commissioner #3 against independent Kari Alexander and Republicans Lloyd Caton, Jr. and Jon Neal, all of whom The Star is working to write about as well.

The primary election for the race takes place on August 2 which will narrow the race down to the top two candidates to appear on the ballot for the general election on Nov. 8.