Shannon Rubin, Council Position 3

I am 40 years old. Dean and I have been married four years and between us we have three children. Korrey, will be a Junior at North Beach. Spencer, graduated last year and is attending Lynn University. Jake is a Senior in High School in IL. We moved to Ocean Shores in 2015 when a career opportunity presented itself to my husband, Dean at QBRC. I was then approached with an opportunity to manage one of Ocean Shores oldest hotels, The Canterbury Inn. Not only have I worked in the hospitality industry but I have also worked in an array of purchasing environments. Additionally, I served as a SOA for the Riverside County Probation Department in Blythe, CA. During this time, I also had the privilege of serving as Chair for Prevent Child Abuse Riverside County. Currently I serve as Treasurer for the Ocean Shores North Beach Chamber of Commerce.

Do you favor the Point Brown Avenue redesign project moving forward, and if so, which of the alternatives do you favor and what suggestions do you have for funding?

I believe the Pt. Brown project is good in concept however not in its current state. I am all for sidewalks, crosswalks, and additional parking. With that said, I do not like any of the designs currently presented. All of them include roundabouts which I am not a personal fan of. Additionally, I am not happy that what was a smaller scale project morphed into a large “re-design” $15,416,961.00 project of which we would be responsible for $4,272,266.00 (per the Project Funding Summary 6/14/17). It is my opinion since we don’t know for sure if the land needed to move forward with any of the current designs would be available to the city, that we halt the process and stop spending design money until that is addressed. I also believe that more business and citizen input is needed before spending one more penny on designs that are not favored.

The city faces a dilemma with funding set to expire for seven firefighters. Do you favor retaining these positions, why or why not, and if so, how would suggest they be paid for?

Public safety is very important. It is concerning to me that we knew this was a 2-year grant and that we did not seem to have a clear plan on how to retain the additional firefighters. I cannot help but wonder why this has not been on a recent council agenda when it is about to expire. There is a significant risk of a major fire based on the unmanaged vegetation (specifically the wax myrtle) that lines the back of hotel row. A fire could not only cause a catastrophic loss of property but also life considering the number of guests housed during the summer. My fellow hoteliers and I have grave concerns over the safety of our guests and our properties. Many of us don’t understand how the highly flammable wax myrtle lining the edges of our properties with no current fire breaks or access ways doesn’t affect our “firewise” status. I think it is imperative we consult with Chief Bathke on what staffing levels are needed to maintain a safe standard not only for residents but also factoring in our tourists. There is always a cost to safety and we collectively need to decide on a plan.

What three items of public interest and benefit would you propose as a council member and what three items would you like to see changed in the city of Ocean Shores?

As a council member, first and foremost, I would like to see us address the crime in the city and the underlying causes as to why it is occurring. Second, it would be nice to have city involvement in putting on Town Halls to educate the community about different issues, programs available, etc. There seems to be a great divide between the city, the businesses, and the residents and we need to fix that. Citizen and business input is vital to our success. Third, we need to work on beautifying our assets and take pride in our city. We allow our medians to become overgrown with weeds and simple things that are within our control are not taken care of. How hard is it to weed? If we are short on labor is this not something we can ask North Beach School District to put out to the High School students as “community service hours?” We need to think of out of the box solutions to issues within our city.

Items we need to change within the city are as follows: First, we need to look at how we spend money. Is it effective to spend $28,000.00 on a lawn mower when the last one only lasted four years? How much could possibly be saved if we outsourced the maintenance of our grass and median areas? We need better checks and balances to ensure we are fiscally responsible. Second, the city needs to review and update its ordinances. As the city evolves having updated ordinances is imperative. The chronic nuisance ordinance is an example that would assist our Police Department with crime prevention. Third, we need to pull the management of the Convention Center and have it professionally managed.

Would you continue the city’s contract with the Pinnacle Group to help manage and market the Ocean Shores Convention Center, and what suggestions do you have for the facility in the long term?

It is my strong belief that the Convention Center needs to be professionally managed by an outside management company with full authority. We need to attract quality users to the Convention Center that bring more revenue to the area. Personally, I do not consider Clean and Free the type of clientele we should be going after. When we have events or groups we want them to be able to spend disposable income at our hotels, shops, and restaurants. We do not need events in which they need to pool funds to even attend. As a hotelier, it infuriates me that the vast-majority of the LTAC funds collected go to the operations of the Convention Center when we have no say in how it is operated. There is a large deficient between the income and expenses which is directly attributed to the management of the center. If we ever hope to stop the bleeding we need to have it managed by industry professionals. Many of the recommendations in the Pinnacle report were excellent however, to a seasoned professional they wouldn’t have been needed. The fact that we had to pay $20,000.00 for a report to tell us ways to improve should speak volumes. To achieve long-term growth the management and marketing of the Convention Center must change. However, I would respect the recommendation of the LTAC board to use Columbia. Pinnacle does not seem to have a sales plan or sales force which is vital. Additionally, Pinnacle is not from Washington and Columbia already operates in the Pacific Northwest. We asked the LTAC board which is comprised of industry professionals for advice; we should listen to it.