When breaking the rules is okay
Sequim City Council sets new precedent
If you feel like you’re a hypocrite, there may be a good reason. How did only one side know about a special meeting? Councilmember’s remarks indicate decision was made before hearing from constituents. Doctor Chen bucks the trend. Important news for 3 Crabs residents.
According to the City of Sequim attorney’s mission statement, “sound, responsive, and responsible public policy” will be achieved through “understandable rules and codes” and “improved laws and policies.” However, according to the Sequim City Council, those policies, rules, and codes don’t apply to them.
“I’d like to move that we suspend the Council Rules of procedure 3.9(b) and (d) to hold tonight’s special meeting,” said councilmember Dan Butler during a January 22 special meeting.
3.9(b) reads:
“…the City Council will not during any part of any Council meeting consider requests from outside agencies for Council to support or oppose ballot measures; nor will Council permit any public comment on any proposed or pending ballot issue…”
3.9(d) reads:
“Council has chosen not to support or oppose ballot issues as those are left to the will of the people voting. The use of any of the City’s facilities, including the use of the Council chambers and/or broadcast system, would likely be construed as being in violation of RCW 42.17A.555 and therefore, general public comment on ballot issues, or proposed ballot issues will not be permitted.”
Councilmember Vicki Lowe seconded Butler’s motion to break the rules.
Before voting, Deputy Mayor Rachel Anderson gave an emotional speech: “It’s important to follow rules if you’re going to have them in an effort to stay trustworthy and unbiased and in an effort to stay in your own lane. I also feel that sticking to our rules is important for us to be taken seriously as a legislative body. If we do not stick to our rules, then we need to change them or figure something out,” said Anderson. “I kind of feel like a hypocrite talking about something that will increase what citizens are paying when I have voted to not increase taxes in the past.”
Councilmembers Dan Butler, Vicki Lowe, and Mayor Brandon Janisse voted to break the rules. Councilmember Harmony Rutter asked if she was allowed to abstain (she was not) and voted to follow the rules, as did Councilmember Rachel Anderson. The motion passed 3-2, and the rules were suspended for the special meeting.
The special meeting was convened for Sequim Councilmembers to consider officially supporting the Sequim School District’s bond and levy. All members of the public who provided comments (eight in total) urged the Council to support the ballot measures. Those commenting included:
The president of the teachers’ union.
School Board Vice President Michael Rocha who said the $146,000,000 bond investment in accommodations was “modest” and “necessary.” He said the estimated additional $100,000,000 in interest is a manageable cost that will save the taxpayers money in the long run. Rocha explained that spreading the quarter-billion-dollar debt over generations was “equitable.”
Graywolf Elementary’s principal, Jennifer Lopez, testified that students must eat in their classrooms because there is no cafeteria.
With the district’s superintendent and school board members sitting in the front row, the Sequim City Council (including Anderson and Rutter) unanimously approved submitting a letter of support for Sequim School District to collect approximately $282,000,000 from taxpayers.
Special meeting, or secret meeting?
The Sequim Gazette reported, “No opponents of the proposals spoke at the meeting or wrote a letter to the city.” Perhaps that’s because residents trusted their elected representatives to follow the rules. Additionally, the special meeting was held on the day the ballots were mailed — voters didn’t even have their ballots or the voter’s pamphlet that accompanied them when the meeting was held.
The Council’s special meeting was announced January 18th on page B7 of the Peninsula Daily News with only four days’ notice. Residents may not have opposed the Council’s actions because they didn’t read the fine print in the back of the newspaper.
A predetermined notion
Councilmember Dan Butler introduced the topic of breaking the rules to take a stance on the school’s bond and levy in a letter to his fellow councilmembers, which was discussed at the January 13th council meeting.
Councilmember Rachel Anderson voiced concern that suspending the rules might break state law. City Attorney Christina Nelson-Gross shared those concerns as well, “From my perspective, given that fact that council is prohibited from doing so within its council rules, I think that makes it a very difficult argument to say that that is part of your normal course and conduct.”
Mayor Brandon Janisse explained that the school was not an outside agency or organization to the City of Sequim and that the special meeting should be allowed. He said, “Someone from Seattle doing ballot propositions or resolutions for the whole state compared to the school district — there’s two different distinctions to ‘outside organizations.’”
Soon-to-resign Councilmember Kathy Downer said, “This came up when the hospital came to us because I wanted to support the hospital. Hospital levies and school levies very much affect a city, especially a small city like us.”
Council member Vicki Lowe argued with the City Attorney and said that the Council was giving equal opportunity to both opposing and supporting views. “If we say we’re going to discuss this, the people who either are against it or for it have the same amount of time to show up to a meeting and give their thoughts.”
“The goal [of the special meeting] is to have a letter of support or something in the end,” Lowe disclosed, indicating that the Council had reached a conclusion a week before hearing public testimony.
City Clerk Heather Robley explained that the school superintendent’s executive assistant had already provided a template for the letter of support. The same template had been provided to the county commissioners before their vote to officially support the levy and bond.
“This doesn’t feel like a good idea,” commented Councilmember Harmony Rutter before the Council passed a motion to hold the special meeting.
The word is out
When public officials use public resources to take stances on ballot issues, residents feel that government decisions are being made with bias rather than neutrally or fairly. Officials are elected to represent all constituents, not just those who share their views. If they openly support or oppose a ballot measure, it alienates community members and creates division.
Now that word is out that Sequim City Council will suspend its rules for certain groups, what will happen when the next government agency or special interest group seeks the Council’s blessing?
Reason to move here
Do new public schools attract doctors to the area, or do they move here because the area is beautiful?
Darryl Wolfe, CEO of our troubled publicly funded hospital, Olympic Medical Center (OMC), wrote a letter to the editor published in last weekend’s Peninsula Daily News. The letter endorsed the Sequim School District’s ballot measures, and in it, Wolfe wrote, “We’ve seen our fair share [of prospective employees] pass on living and working here because of the aging public school facilities.”
The lead story of that same newspaper, titled “Physician Officer Goes back to Roots,” explained how OMC has a new head doctor who moved to Sequim from Irvine, California. Dr. Chen, who recently bought a home north of Sequim, told the PDN why he came to the area: “It’s spectacularly beautiful, it’s so unique, and the people here are among the most kind I’ve ever met.”
3 Crabs update
The County Commissioners have added the following item to Monday’s work session agenda:
Public comments are not allowed during Monday’s work session, but the public can attend in person at the courthouse or virtually. The session begins at 9 a.m. Click here for details.
Polling
Last week, subscribers were asked how often they use public transportation. Of 289 votes:
78% said never.
12% said they would if it were cleaner.
8% said infrequently.
2% said frequently.
I can not in good faith ever again vote to give money to people who have already proven to be be poor stewards of money. So much corruption everywhere that giving anymore money to the corrupt and expecting a great outcome is literally the definition of insanity. Vote wisely.
If you’ve seen recent test scores from Sequim Schools, we need to be investing money into fully understanding material and core competency. I can’t in good faith vote for this bond when the majority of our kids aren’t grasping the basics. The college has buildings from the 1960’s we are still using and maintaining. Sequim School district can manage the maintenance of their buildings better before I give them any money to waste.