EDITOR’S NOTE: This report has been corrected to reflect that William Payne is a former assistant state attorney general.
PORT ANGELES — Clallam County has hired a pair of local attorneys to split the duties of hearing examiner.
The three commissioners Tuesday inked carbon-copy personal service agreements with Lauren Erickson and William Payne to adjudicate land-use matters at a fixed rate of $2,250 per completed case.
The contract model represents a change of course for Clallam County, which has had a hearing examiner on staff for most of the past decade.
Mark Nichols left the post after a 10-month stint to become prosecuting attorney last November.
Christopher Melly, now a Superior Court judge, was the staff hearing examiner and part-time court commissioner prior to 2014.
Erickson, a Port Angeles attorney and former deputy prosecutor, has served as hearing examiner pro-tem.
Payne, a former assistant state attorney general from Sequim, served as Clallam County prosecuting attorney last year and ran against Nichols in the general election.
The one-year agreements with Erickson and Payne are valid through February 2016.
Rotate between two
“The plan is to rotate back and forth, in order, unless they determine that they have some conflict,” County Administrator Jim Jones said Tuesday.
The contract hearing examiners will conduct administrative and quasi-judicial hearings and render written decisions on appeals of departmental decisions and a variety of land-use permits.
Clallam County budgeted for 30 hearings this year.
Last year, Nichols and Erickson combined to adjudicate a record 22 hearings. There were 20 hearings in 2013, 11 in 2012 and nine in 2011.
County officials attributed the spike in hearings to conditional-use permits for siting recreational marijuana businesses.
“So far this year, it’s dropped down,” Jones told commissioners.
Commissioners last month opted to switch from an in-house hearing examiner to the contract model to reduce costs.
At that time, Erickson, Payne, Port Angeles attorney Craig Miller and Granite Falls attorney Phil Olbrechts had applied for the permanent job.
Miller withdrew his name from consideration. Olbrechts wasn’t considered as a contract hearing examiner because commissioners favored local attorneys with vested interests in the communities they would serve.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5072, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
