Three Clatsop County commissioners whose terms expire after this year say they intend to run for reelection in May.

Commissioner Mark Kujala and Commissioner Pamela Wev have filed their candidate forms. Commissioner Lianne Thompson said she plans to file hers later this month.

Kujala, who serves as the chairman of the Board of Commissioners, was elected in 2018 to represent District 1, which encompasses Warrenton, Hammond and a southwest swath of Astoria. He is the director of the Columbia Memorial Hospital Foundation.

Thompson, the board’s longest-serving member, was elected in 2014 to represent District 5, which covers South County, including Cannon Beach, Arch Cape, Hamlet, Elsie, Jewell and a section of Seaside.

Wev, a land use planner and economic development consultant, was elected in 2018 to represent District 3, which covers central Astoria and Miles Crossing, Jeffers Garden, Fort Clatsop, Lewis and Clark, Olney, Youngs River, Green Mountain and parts of Walluski.

Kujala said he chose to run again because he feels the commission has unfinished business that he would like to see through to completion.

Two high-profile projects underway in Warrenton are the North Coast Business Park, a proposed industrial development near U.S. Highway 101, and the new Clatsop County Jail, scheduled for completion in the second half of 2022.

Kujala and Thompson said the lack of child care options in the county remains an issue they would like to address. Kujala sits on a county task force looking at the issue.

The county also suffers from a housing scarcity that impacts all income levels.

Wev is the commission’s representative on the board of the Northwest Oregon Housing Authority, which manages properties for people with low- and- moderate- incomes in Clatsop, Columbia and Tillamook counties. Wev has supported the establishment of a housing project, consisting of more than 40 apartments, being developed in Warrenton’s Chelsea Gardens neighborhood.

In addition, the commission is overhauling the county’s comprehensive plan, a document that will help shape the future of the county’s unincorporated areas and how the county grows.

The three commissioners’ experience on the board predates the coronavirus pandemic, a crisis that at times has displaced other priorities.

Kujala said that, “as a commission, I think, we work well together.” He said the board, under his leadership, has worked with municipalities, nonprofits and other organizations in the county in a collaborative fashion.

“That was one of my goals,” he said, “and I think that’s happened.”

Thompson said the relationships she has developed over her nearly eight years in local government — including through her work with the Association of Oregon Counties and the Columbia-Pacific Economic Development District — makes her an asset.

Her message to voters: “Thank you for honoring me with your trust. I’ve worked hard for you, and I hope I’ve worked well. Let’s carry on and do more good together.”

In a release announcing her run, Wev’s campaign said, “These are uniquely difficult times for Clatsop County. With (Wev’s) reelection, we will benefit from her vast experience and leadership to help navigate us through these troubled waters.”