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Bethel City Council candidate profile: Patrick Snow

Four candidates are running for four open seats in the Oct. 4 election. This would be Patrick Snow’s first term on Bethel City Council.

Snow was born and raised in McGrath, and he moved to Bethel in 2000 for his first job with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Since then, he’s loved that the city puts him close to the outdoors. Snow likes to fish, hunt, go out on his snowmachine, and go on walks.

“It's quite easy for me to hop in my boat and drive up and down the Kuskokwim,” Snow said. “I grew up on the Kuskokwim, so I really enjoy that.”

Plus, he likes the community and culture in Bethel.

“You have the Saturday Markets, things like that. You get to see these handicrafts that you don't typically get to see other places,” Snow said. “You can go to Anchorage and look all you want, but you're not going to find a pair of sealskin hats easily, or mukluks, or those sorts of things.”

Snow wants to learn more about how the council works so that he can figure out how to best address issues he sees in the community. He thinks about the improvements he’d like to see every time he hits a pothole in the road.

“Every time I come into a situation and start talking and listening to people, there are typically good reasons why certain issues aren't addressed,” Snow said. “So that's one of the things I want to try to become aware of. And then, there again, see what the council can do to address some of the concerns.”

Snow doesn’t have a specific agenda yet. He wants to learn more about the scope and responsibilities of the council first. But he said that he wants to work to keep people, especially young people, in the city he loves.

“I know that there's a lot of work here in Bethel,” Snow said. “I would like to see more of that work filled by local people,” Snow said. “I know that we will bring a lot of people in from outside the community to address some of the work needs that we have.”

Snow is semi-retired; he took an “early out” option from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Now he works as an aircraft mechanic’s assistant at a local commuter air service. Snow is hoping to get certified to become an aircraft mechanic in May 2023.

Nina was a temporary news reporter at KYUK. She comes to Bethel from NPR, where she's a producer at Morning Edition.
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