PORT TOWNSEND – The chief proponent of a petition drive asking voters to abandon the City Council-city manager form of government said he will submit more signatures to the county Auditor’s Office today.
A month into his petition drive, Port Townsend hot dog stand owner John Sheehan presented petitions with 523 signatures to the Auditor’s Office last Monday.
Of those, 404 signatures were found to be those of valid registered Port Townsend voters.
To go on the Nov. 6 ballot, the signatures of 455 registered voters – 10 percent of those registered in the city – are required.
“We’ve finished checking, but haven’t certified either way,” Karen Cartmel, deputy county auditor in charge of elections, said Friday.
A smiling Sheehan on Friday said he did not think it would be difficult to gather the needed signatures.
“We need at least another 75,” Sheehan said, adding that he has gathered signatures only casually so far, by leaving petitions at Sims Way businesses.
The petition asks those signing it if they support reinstating a strong mayor form of government, abolishing the existing council-manager form and reverting to the city’s original mayor-council form.
Sheehan, who for 22 years has owned a hot dog stand across the street from City Hall and has lived in the city for 35 years, contends that the current form of government is too expensive and does not need a bureaucrat to run it.
The council-manager form of government has been in place since voters approved it in 1998, and Sheehan believes it’s time to review it.
In a mayor-council form of government, an elected mayor serves as the city’s chief administrative officer, and a council serves as the municipality’s legislative body.
While the council has the power to formulate and adopt city policies, the mayor is responsible for carrying them out, according to the Municipal Research and Services Center of Washington.
The mayor presides over council meetings, but does not vote on council business, except in the case of a tie-breaker.
A high-profile opponent of returning to the strong mayor form of government is Mayor Mark Welch, a lifetime Port Townsend resident who sees other options to reverting back to a strong-mayor form of government.
The mayor believes a professional manager is a must.
