"Left out of the process"

One commissioner's core belief about local government

Today’s Clallam County Board of Commissioners’ meeting was brief. The county has dedicated a website to providing updates about Towne Road and the next update should be posted in one or two weeks. Public comment was well utilized, and several attendees asked for increased accountability and transparency in areas of county government. The following statement was read during public comment, Commissioner Ozias did not attend in person.

“Constituents have ongoing concerns regarding the transparency and accountability of their commissioners. These concerns stem from a series of events that have recently been discovered.

When the Jamestown Tribe breached the old river dike ahead of schedule, it resulted in the unplanned and avoidable closure of Towne Road. There was no public announcement explaining the cause -- instead, Commissioner Mark Ozias agreed to manipulate the language of a resolution that absolved his campaign's top donor of any blame. The true cause of the road's closure was concealed from the public.

Less than a year ago Commissioner Ozias halted the completion of Towne Road and told the public that "hundreds of signatures" from "several petitions" had been received calling for the road's closure. In truth, it was only 98 signatures from two petitions. Commissioner Ozias misinformed the public and withheld that 140 signatures supporting the road's opening had been received.

Commissioner Ozias stood before his community during an informational meeting last September and presented three options that would open Towne Road, but he had already privately promised a fourth option to a landowner that would install tax-funded, automatic, electric gates and close the road to the public. This was also the option favored by his campaign's top donor. The commissioner withheld that insurance rates would spike in Dungeness if the road were to remain closed and that first responders had warned the commissioners of the detrimental effects to public safety. This informational meeting was seemingly a show because the constituents had already been left out of the process.

What's on the horizon? The Dungeness River Off Channel Reservoir. This massive infrastructure project makes the Towne Road Levee Setback Project seem small in comparison, but it has all the same hallmarks: it is a multi-agency effort, decades in the making, with tens of millions in grant funding, and it must strike a balance between recreation and public safety. The county will once again be collaborating with Ozias' top donor, the Tribe, and it is all happening in Commissioner Ozias' district.

Will we, the residents, have a seat at the table after seeing how we were shut out of the Towne Road project? What information has already been withheld from the public? What backroom deals have already been made? What promises have been made to friends, neighbors, and campaign donors?

In closing, here is a quote that Commissioner Ozias gave when plans for Sequim's MAT clinic were first unveiled and he had the monumental task of reassuring and reuniting a divided community. He said:

‘Many have expressed belief that this work has taken place in private, without informing the public. One core belief I have as an elected official is that local government only works when citizens participate. It troubles me greatly to think that so many feel they have been left out of the process.’

Commissioner Ozias, does it still trouble you greatly when your constituents feel they have been left out of the process?”