PORT ANGELES — Clallam County Treasurer Selinda Barkhuis has dismissed the attorney appointed to represent her in a legal dispute with two commissioners.
Barkhuis on Wednesday informed Jefferson County Chief Civil Deputy Prosecuting Attorney David Alvarez he was being relieved of his duties.
“We just disagreed, and she decided she wanted to go a different route,” Alvarez said Thursday.
Barkhuis did not respond to direct questions about her decision to part ways with Alvarez or her plans for legal representation.
Barkhuis, a licensed attorney, wrote in an Aug. 25 email that she would seek the assistance of pro bono lawyers to help her prepare for court.
Commissioners Jim McEntire and Bill Peach voted Aug. 25 to direct Clallam County Prosecuting Attorney Mark Nichols to seek a declaratory judgment and order from a Superior Court judge that would force Barkhuis to release warrants for $1.3 million in Opportunity Fund grants to the port and city of Port Angeles.
Commissioner Mike Chapman “proudly and loudly” voted no.
Barkhuis rejected the warrants in June because of the administrative process the board employed to modify the budget.
“All that needs to happen for me to disburse the funds for these grants is for the commissioners to produce and sign the necessary budget resolution and written contracts — to be approved by the prosecutor as to form — that hold them accountable for these $1.3 million in no-strings attached, election-year grant expenditures,” Barkhuis wrote in a Friday email.
Chapman pleaded with his fellow commissioners to accept Barkhuis’ compromise and budget the infrastructure projects in 2016 or to hold budget emergency hearings.
That would ensure that the port and city would have their funds in a timely fashion, Chapman said.
McEntire and Peach have said the board followed correct procedure when they approved the grants.
Commissioners went the extra mile, McEntire said, by holding public hearings beyond what was required by county policy and state law.
Nichols appointed Alvarez to represent Barkhuis when the dispute escalated in July.
“I regret that it did not work out between the treasurer and myself,” Alvarez wrote in a Wednesday email to Nichols.
Nichols advised commissioners Aug. 25 that a declaratory judgment was just one option for the board to consider; mediation was another.
Nichols said the main issue for the judge to consider is whether the county’s budget process is legal.
In the wake of Alvarez’s dismissal, Nichols said Thursday the plan of action “remains unchanged.”
“We’ll advance this matter into court,” he said.
A visiting judge may need to hear the case to avoid a conflict with Clallam County officials, Nichols said.
He added that it could take “several months” for a judge to resolve the matter.
A complaint for declaratory judgment, also known as a declaratory action, had not been filed as of Friday.
“We hope to have it filed soon,” said Brian Wendt, Clallam County deputy prosecuting attorney.
Barkhuis wrote in a Thursday email that the disagreement could be resolved by the prosecutor requesting a formal opinion from the state Attorney General’s Office, which he has the authority to do.
“As treasurer, I do not have that right,” she said.
Barkhuis sought intervention from the state Attorney General’s Office in July, but Chief Criminal Prosecutor Lana Weinmann said her office did not have the authority to take action.
Wendt said the types of questions posed to the state Attorney General’s Office typically deal with state law.
The dispute between the commissioners and treasurer is “more of a local concern,” Wendt said.
Nichols was unavailable for comment Friday.
If the case proceeds to court, Barkhuis said she would ask the judge to weigh in on several questions regarding the prosecutor’s authority and her own duties and liability.
“Indeed, how far can ‘the county’ go in its blatant attempt to bully me out of office and gain unfettered access to the county treasury?” Barkhuis wrote.
“Are there any limits? If not, then why not simply turn over the county’s checkbook to Commissioner McEntire and be done with it?”
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5072, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
