Local archaeologist and cartographer Emilio Santiago is bringing a colorful perspective and vibrant energy to the mayoral election in Friday Harbor. Along with his bowtie and wide smile comes 12 years of experience as a federal government employee and a passionate belief that taxpayer benefit is the ultimate purpose of government; he’s tired of seeing Friday Harbor dollars wasted on things like lawsuits with community partners. Santiago is already putting in the footwork to understand the past, present, and future of Friday Harbor even before the election has taken place.

Background

The son of a Puerto Rican emigrant, Santiago grew up in Boston before graduating from Columbia University as an archaeological anthropologist. He has worked for twelve years as an archaeologist in the federal government, serving with both the National Park Service and the United States Forest Service. He’s currently the Cultural Resources Program Manager for San Juan Island National Historical Park, where he manages archaeological sites, historical buildings, and historical and cultural landscapes. Additionally, he serves as a local volunteer wildland firefighter, a member of the historical society, and coordinator of the local Green Drinks chapter.

Footwork

A unique element of Santiago’s campaign is the local research he’s put into preparing for the role of Friday Harbor’s mayor. He decided early on that he would attend as many council meetings as possible and speak to as many people as he could to get a snapshot of what’s going on in the town.

“It started with current council members, town hall staff, folks in the union, whoever I could start to think of,” said Santiago, who looked at this fact-gathering project from an anthropological perspective. “I reached out to former council members, former mayors. I’ve spoken with three people who quit the town recently. I was trying to really piece together what happened to bring us to where we are so I can understand better where the town needs to go.”

Santiago uses his lunch breaks or after-hours time for these meetings, ever aware of ethics as a government employee. This endeavor has taken place over the last few months, with a positive reception; seemingly, everyone is eager to discuss their experiences and the issues they see happening within the town.

Carrie Lacher, former mayor of Friday Harbor, met with Santiago for one of those meetings and was impressed with what she saw.

“Emilio has given me back a lot of hope for the future of the Town of Friday Harbor. I am very impressed by his energy, enthusiasm, and knowledge,” she said to the Journal. “I also appreciate Emilio’s extensive background working with a governmental agency. This will be extremely helpful with the bureaucratic nuances of the mayorship. It’s wonderful having such a full slate of talented candidates. I feel Emilio brings critically needed perspective, experience, and qualifications.”

Santiago said he’s been “the most consistent presence” at town meetings recently, and he’s doing his homework (he calls himself a “student of the position”) by studying the municipal code. He even purchased the textbooks the councilmembers use to train on Robert’s Rules of Order (a parliamentary procedural guide used by the American government) so he can understand the language they use.

“I’m trying to demonstrate that I’m already putting in the time,” Santiago explained. “You’re getting someone who is different, younger, has a unique, fresh perspective, and has more of a government approach to things. I want to put the time into giving the position justice, as the person who could be speaking directly to town citizens, as a person who would be raising issues and communicating, and building relationships with their own employees across departments. That is what you could get from me. I would make the position a priority.”

Values

As a federal employee for the last 12 years with a knack for codes of conduct and a special attention to detail, Santiago has a deeply held value around ethics. At the League of Women Voters forum in July, he mentioned multiple instances during Mayor Jackson’s term when he noticed what he considered to be conflicts of interest and would have recused himself from discussions. Before running for mayor, Santiago worked with the Department of Ethics Office with the U.S. Department of the Interior to ensure he was ethically compliant.

Another value of his is solutions-oriented activism, which is why he’s running for mayor in the first place.

“You can only complain so much until you have to decide if you’re going to be a part of a solution or not,” Santiago explained. “I’ve heard the phrase, ‘you touch it you own it.’ I don’t love it when I hear people bring up problems without also having a creative solution as well. It’s a team effort. I totally understand hearing where there are deficiencies, great. So what do we want to do about that?”

This type of problem-solving served him well when he was working on wildfires in California, which taught him about incident command and triaging issues in the face of a ticking clock in emergent situations. Santiago uses this method when it comes to problem-solving and planning.

“I think about things from an incident command standpoint. You have Plan A, then your contingency plan, and then an oh s—- kit,” he laughed. “In other words, you have your main system, you have your safety system or your backup, and then you have another escape route should those first two fail. I’m always thinking about what’s probably going to happen, what should we plan could happen, and what is the worst thing that could happen and how could we still move through that.”

Issues

As mayor, Santiago says he would focus on affordable housing and try to reconcile a town with a budget that relies on sales tax with a community that balks at tourists. He also feels concerned about a style of governance that has resulted in a mayor being at odds with the council, town staff, the county, and community organizations, such as the Home Trust.

“At some point in time, you have to realize the town is at odds with everyone and blaming everyone, saying they want something they don’t deserve,” Santiago said. “Maybe we are the ones who aren’t cooperating with people. Maybe it’s not the whole world against us. Our job is to actually serve these people.”

The Guild of Pacific Northwest Employees’ Local 1909 chapter is hopeful that electing Santiago as mayor would discontinue the practice of town management receiving pay increases while declaring budget crises during bargaining for staff pay raises.

“Leaders of 1909 and other members are impressed with candidate Emilio Santiago,” they said in a statement to their members. “He takes an interest and asks questions. He listens more than he talks. He is smart and has great people skills. He supports unions.”

Santiago acknowledges that while many Friday Harbor residents are averse to change, he hopes to find a balance between preservation and progress.

“We have a beautiful past,” said Santiago, a San Juan Historical Society member. “We don’t need to be bound by it, but it can serve as a way to elegantly guide the future of this place as well. We can infuse our traditions with progress that could really benefit the town.”

Criticisms

Santiago has been labeled “the young candidate,” but the 34-year-old feels certain that his age is immaterial, and his government experience is more relevant than the corporate experience of other candidates.

He was also the candidate at the LWV forum most vocally calling out issues and problems – and people – which is arguably more typical in his hometown of Boston than on San Juan Island.

“It would be hypocritical of me to say I value accountability while not holding anyone accountable,” he said about the fire he brought to the forum. “I love the idea that we all just have to work together, but at the same time, if there’s a problem, let’s address it. You can’t have 50 meetings where people say this is a problem and then clutch your pearls when I repeat that.”

Santiago is ultimately committed to voicing the concerns he has learned about over his few months of research to create a better local government with a better return on the taxpayers’ dollar.

“I’ve been known to be a colorful individual who is good at bringing people together. Whether that is at the negotiation table with tribal/state governments, with Green Drinks, the fire line… I love people. I love relationships, and I’m really curious and eager to work with people.”