PORT ANGELES — Clallam County lawmakers will “step back” before processing a pair of pre-approved grants to allow their legal adviser to resolve a dispute between county officials, Commissioner Mike Chapman said.
Selinda Barkhuis, the county’s elected treasurer, has said she will withhold a $1 million grant to the Port of Port Angeles and a $285,952 grant to the city of Port Angeles until a Superior Court judge has determined whether the funds are being disbursed according to law.
At issue is the process by which the county will transfer the money to the port and city governments.
The board approved the infrastructure grants from the Opportunity Fund on May 12.
Commissioners Chapman and Bill Peach voted Tuesday to pull the warrants for the grants from vouchers on their weekly consent agenda.
Postponing action on the warrants will allow county Prosecuting Attorney Mark Nichols to work with the concerned officials to determine whether the money is being distributed legally, Chapman said.
“I think it’s important that we find a solution within the county family, that we don’t negotiate these things on the front page of the newspaper or in Superior Court,” Chapman said.
“We want to make sure we do this right.”
Urged judicial review
Barkhuis, a nonpracticing lawyer who was elected treasurer in 2010 and ran unopposed in 2014, issued a Thursday memo to county officials and local news outlets calling for a judicial review of the board’s actions.
She said a court review is justified because of the amount of public money at stake, the technical nature of relevant law, the taxpayers’ right to address unanticipated expenses, the county’s limited ability to recall funds that have left the county treasury and the precedent being set.
“If warrants are issued in payment of these grants, and if the city and/or the port do present them for payment, I will reject them unless I am otherwise ordered by the County Superior Court,” Barkhuis wrote.
Barkhuis issued another email Monday afternoon attacking County Administrator Jim Jones for claiming the board did not need to hold a public hearing before approving the grants.
Money for the grants was originally earmarked for the Carlsborg sewer project.
Nichols, who was elected prosecuting attorney last November and has served as chief deputy in the office, appointed a civil attorney to represent Barkhuis and a separate civil attorney to represent the Board of County Commissioners.
“My best recommendation for the board at this point in time is to slow things down a little bit by design,” Nichols said.
“And the reason I’m recommending that is because I’m not convinced that what’s occurring is not a direct result of a misunderstanding.”
Barkhuis did not attend the commissioners’ meeting and was not immediately available for comment Tuesday afternoon.
Board Chairman Jim McEntire also was absent from the meeting because he was serving with the state Board of Natural Resources in Olympia.
“This is an opportunity for us to do a little better in-house in communicating with each other,” Nichols said.
“I believe that my office and my civil division can play an integral role to that end, and I believe that the taxpayers expect this of their county government. I think we can probably rise to the occasion.”
Chapman thanked Nichols for his leadership and pledged to follow the prosecutor’s legal advice.
“I would encourage all elected officials to make the same pledge,” Chapman said.
“Keep it out of the newspaper.
“It doesn’t do us any good to read about family disputes over administerial functions in the press or going to court.”
Chapman said the decision to allocate the grant funds is “not up for debate.”
“The debate is over the process of how these funds get out into the community,” he said.
Grant uses
Port officials have said the county grant will help to complete a 25,000-square-foot composites recycling center in west Port Angeles that will bring good jobs to the area.
City officials have said the county grant will help complete the second phase of the waterfront improvement project from Oak Street to the Valley Creek Estuary.
Nichols suggested a meeting of county officials to “talk through the different issues” and “make sure that everybody understands each other’s respective position.”
“It’s my belief that through that process, we’ll likely be able to resolve this amicably in a way that is to the benefit of the county, to the benefit of the port, to the benefit of the city of Port Angeles and the community at large,” Nichols said.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5072, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
