Ten people have now offered to serve Bainbridge Island as a councilmember in the city’s vacant South Ward council seat.

Four new applications were filed before Friday’s deadline — and the candidates include two from the same South End family.

The new applicants are Thomas W. Hemphill, Wesley Hemphill, John Sloat Jr., and Chris Snow.

Thomas W. Hemphill has been a resident on Bainbridge for 44 years.

He worked for his family minerals business, Hemphill Brothers, Inc., from June 1975 to December 2019.

In his application letter, Hemphill, 68, said he wanted to join the council “because I love my community and wish to see our Island city continue to be a wonderful place for all who live here.”

“The strengths I would bring to the council include decades of business and management experience,” he added. “I have served on various boards for businesses, churches, and other nonprofit organizations. I also have experience making difficult decisions as part of the leadership of organizations that have experienced periods of financial difficulty. On an interpersonal level, my strengths include the ability to listen well, to consider other, oppositional points of view, and to respect those with whom I may disagree. My intention as a councilperson is to listen, to learn, to contribute to a full and well-considered dialogue about the issues affecting our community, and to generate reasonable, balanced, and effective policy.”

Hemphill also has extensive community service, and has been involved in the political arena, as well.

He has served as an elections supervisor, and was vice chair of the Kitsap County Republican Party from 1996 to 1998. He was county platform chairman in 1996, and represented Kitsap County on the state of Washington platform committee in 1996 and 1998.

“What I hope to accomplish is to be a voice for private property rights and business while respecting environmental concerns and appropriate zoning,” he wrote in his application letter. “I believe we need a true blend of perspectives and voices on our council. When we have mutual respect for and a deeper understanding of differing opinions, we can work together more effectively to serve the interests of our community.”

The city’s top three priorities, he wrote, are to “modify the ordinances regarding vegetation restrictions on private property, including designating certain properties without the city-approved vegetation plan as nonconforming; modify the restrictions regarding the removal of trees on private property; and end the moratorium on new building.”

“In general, we need to create policy that demonstrates a greater appreciation for private property rights and a friendlier business atmosphere, while maintaining respect for the natural environment and attention to the impact of climate change,” he added.

Wesley Hemphill is one of Thomas W. Hemphill’s four sons, and currently the vice president of Hemphill Brothers, Inc.

Wesley Hemphill, 34, is also co-owner of the family business and a lifelong Bainbridge resident.

“I am a natural collaborator and a people person,” he said in his application. “I am open-minded and like to approach problems from various perspectives in order to find the best solution. I have experience as a small business owner, manager, and board officer that are relevant to the decision-making and long-term planning aspects of this position.”

His biggest concern is the attitude toward business and development on the island.

“My greatest concern for the community is coherent long-term development planning. I would push for a more balanced, come-along-side attitude toward business and development, rather then an adversarial approach,” he wrote.

“I hope to work toward the betterment of the island, through listening, understanding, and acting in the best interests of the community,” he added. “My vision is to help foster an island community that will thrive for many generations to come by helping to create balanced, representative policy that reflects the needs of the community.”

Sloat, 62, is the CEO and founder of UpTop, an internet user experience design and development company.

“Throughout my life I’ve chosen jobs that I found to be interesting, challenging and fun. It may be crazy to consider being on the city council as fun, but I think the chance to work on the city’s problems and be a help with challenging issues seems like fun to me,” Sloat wrote in his application letter.

“I think my unique strength is I have the ability to see what the real goal is of a project or issue,” he added. “And I have the ability, working in a team, to figure out interesting and alternative ways to solve problems. I can distill what needs to be accomplished to its essence and then work with others to solve the problem being presented.”

His list of main issues for the city include “good governance” as the top priority.

“I believe good governance should be the first and primary priority of any city councilmember,” he wrote. “By good governance I mean the wise use of taxpayer funds, to serve the needs of the residents of Bainbridge Island.

“No. 2, I am interested in working on climate change issues. I would like to be a part of making Bainbridge Island greener,” Sloat added. “No. 3 I am interested in the challenging issue of housing affordability on the island. I think there’s definitely a problem, but I don’t know if my fellow citizens are willing to face up to it.”

It seems that a lot of us don’t want any growth and I understand that,” he noted. “I like the island as it is, but at the same time if you don’t allow growth, prices for homes and apartments will continue to go up and that will actually harm affordability. So, the desire to keep the island the same and the desire to provide affordable housing are in direct conflict with each other. Even though there is a conflict, I think this is a problem the city should try to solve.”

Sloat’s prior political experience includes working in the early 1980s as an assistant for Congressman Don Young, an Alaskan Republican who has served in the House of Representatives since 1973.

Snow, 79, has served on the council before, from 2006 to 2009, and his time includes six-month stint as the first council mayor following the change in form of city government in 2009.

Beyond filling the vacant council seat, Snow said housing and food security should be the city’s top issues; “ensure that all home owners and renters can pay their rents and mortgages so they can stay in their homes, [and] food, ensure that everyone is able to keep food on their tables.”

“A housing task force should be convened to harness the expertise and ingenuity of our developers, Realtors and others in the housing sector to work with HRB, Bainbridge Community Foundation, land trust, and other community leaders,” Snow wrote in his application letter.

“Council should initiate a similar project, spearheaded by Helpline House, and supported by other nonprofits to learn how different sectors of our community have been adversely affected and need help to continue to eat,” he added.

Snow had a long career as a United States Foreign Service Officer, serving from 1963 to 1998, with assignments that included ones in Pakistan, India, Bulgaria, Iran and Israel.

During his college years, he was a laborer at the Utah Concrete Pipe Factory, and a “burger flipper” at the Buttery, one of the late-night student cafés at Yale University.

His community experience on the island includes serving on the board of the Bainbridge Community Foundation and also, as a member of the founding board of the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art.

Six other candidates submitted applications earlier this week; Ashley Mathews, Denise Kulak, James Halbrook, Lisa Neal, John Ogden, and Christy Carr.