PORT ANGELES — The formation of the Port Angeles Harbor-Works Public Development Authority did not violate the state Open Public Meetings Act or the city of Port Angeles’ municipal code, a report from the state Auditor’s Office concluded.
The report released Wednesday did find that the City Council did not conform with Harbor-Works’ charter when it appointed former Deputy Mayor Orville Campbell as board chairman, but the auditor’s office considers the issue resolved, according to the document signed by Brian Sonntag, state auditor.
Council approved last May
The release of the report comes just a little over one year after the City Council approved the creation of Harbor-Works on May 20, 2008.
The City Council’s approval of the public development authority without taking public input drew criticism from several Port Angeles residents, including Norma Turner and Shirley Nixon, who filed the request for the investigation.
Although no public input was taken and the details of Harbor-Works’ purpose and structure were not discussed at an open meeting until it was approved by the council, the city did not violate state law, said Auditor’s Office spokeswoman Mindy Chambers.
“There is nothing that requires them to do that,” she said.
“Now should they? Probably. Do they have to? No.”
Turner disagrees
Turner said she disagrees with the conclusions of the report.
“Even though the state office thinks it was done right, we continue to respectfully disagree,” she said, referring to herself and Nixon.
“When local elected officials meet with no public input . . . and in doing so have to amend their own rules, again with no public notice and no public comment, I think normal citizens know that violates reasonable expectation of public input.”
In order to make the formation of Harbor-Works compliant with the city’s municipal code, the city overrode its own requirements that all charters, including the one for the public development authority, have to be submitted 30 days before they are approved.
The Harbor-Works charter was completed a few days before the May 20, 2008 meeting.
The auditor’s office also found this to be compliant with state law.
“A City Council is permitted to adopt ordinances that repeal or amend previously adopted ordinances,” the report said.
Another critic of how the city formed Harbor-Works, Darlene Schanfald of the Olympic Environmental Council Coalition, said the findings of the report set a bad precedent.
“This is really a bleak decision,” she said. “It’s a bleak decision, because these kinds of things can go on outside of public knowledge . . . when citizens don’t have the opportunity to speak on whether it’s in their interest or not.”
City disagrees
City Manager Kent Myers said the city disagrees with the Auditor’s Office’s determination that the City Council violated the Harbor-Works charter by appointing the board’s chairman.
The charter says the City Council and port commission were each to appoint two members of the board, and those four members would choose the chairman.
The City Council appointed three of the members, including Campbell as chairman, at the meeting during which it approved the creation of Harbor-Works.
The Harbor-Works board officially confirmed Campbell’s appointment on Oct. 1, therefore resolving the issue, the auditor said.
Myers said the City Council could not have violated the charter by appointing Campbell because the charter, which was approved by the council at the same meeting as the appointments, hadn’t been enacted.
The charter went into effect the next day on May 21, 2008.
“Because the charter was not enacted, there would have been no way for the original members of the Harbor-Works authority board to be selected for a charter that was not in place,” Myers said.
“The rest of the contents of the report we fully support and endorse. We think we are ready to move on.”
The report also concluded that Harbor-Works’ accounting system was acceptable and that the board did not violate its charter by not selecting a treasurer until November.
Board member pleased
Harbor-Works board member Jerry Hendricks said he was pleased, but not surprised, to see that the board was found compliant with state law.
“I didn’t think we had done anything wrong as the Harbor-Works board,” he said. “We certainly intend to operate within the law.”
Board member Howie Ruddell said he hopes the report ends criticism of the board for how it operates and the city for how it formed Harbor-Works.
Ruddell didn’t conceal his criticism of those he says have attempted to “hijack this community project.” He declined to refer to anyone by name.
“Unfortunately these witch hunts are being paid for with tax payer dollars and they need to stop,” he said.
The city created Harbor-Works to acquire the Rayonier Inc. property — the site of a pulp mill, now closed — on the east end of Port Angeles Harbor and to direct its cleanup and redevelopment.
Harbor-Works is funded by the city and Port of Port Angeles, which have each loaned the public development authority $150,000. The port appointed two of the Harbor-Works board members.
The Rayonier property has been a state Department of Ecology cleanup site since 2000.
The 75-acre Rayonier property is contaminated by PCBs, dioxins and other contaminates from the mill, which closed in 1997 after operating for 68 years.
Water tank
The city’s main impetus in forming Harbor-Works was to help it acquire a 5 million-gallon water tank on the Rayonier property at no cost — in exchange for the city taking part in the cleanup of the property through Harbor-Works — although this wasn’t disclosed publicly by city staff until a City Council meeting in December.
The water tank would be used by the city to store untreated sewage during heavy rainfall in order to keep it from overflowing into marine waters.
The city is under an Ecology order to nearly eliminate overflow events by 2016 or face a fine of $10,000 a day.
Potential costs for acquisition of the tank haven’t been discussed publicly by Rayonier or the city.
The property is the former site of a Klallam village, Y’Innis. Human remains and tribal artifacts remain buried under portions of the property, and the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe is a partner in the cleanup project.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
