PORT ANGELES — It was a stop-the-presses moment, one that revealed a rift on the City Council that will likely come to light at tonight’s meeting at 6 p.m. at City Hall.
Last week, council member Lee Whetham was successful in halting council colleague Cherie Kidd’s appointment to the Clallam County Trust Land Advisory Committee just as county commissioners were set to name her to the position.
Then-Mayor Dan Di Giulio said last week that, faced with a Jan. 5 deadline, he recommended Kidd as the city’s interim representative on the panel on Dec. 29 or Dec. 30 on an interim basis.
He made the decision after the last council meeting of the year Dec. 15 to provide a solution until the City Council could consider it and other board and commission appointments.
City Office Administrative Assistant Kari Martinez-Bailey informed current Mayor Patrick Downie, Kidd and City Manager Dan McKeen of the appointment in a Dec. 31 email.
Martinez-Bailey said in her email that “Di Giulio has appointed Councilmember Cherie Kidd” to the committee.
“With the election of a new councilmember [Michael Merideth], specifically with the election of a new mayor at our first meeting of the year on Jan. 5, this could change, though until further notice please accept our endorsement.”
Clallam County Board of Commissioners’ Chairman Mike Chapman said the commissioners were on the verge of rubber-stamping the mayor’s move Jan. 12.
But Whetham showed up, said Kidd’s appointment was news to him and urged them to delay action until the full council weighed in on the move.
Commissioners acceded to his request though Chapman, a commissioner since January 2001, was surprised at Whetham’s appearance.
“We have never had the representative of an organization come to the board of commissioners and say, ‘hey, we have not discussed this,’ and say ‘we never discussed this,’ ” Chapman said.
Downie and Whetham had discussed the issue and disagreed about Whetham’s course of action.
“I didn’t discourage Lee from appearing,” Downie said last week. “I did discourage him from doing what he did, and I’m disappointed.”
Downie said Monday he never saw Martinez-Bailey’s email.
“For whatever reason, that one email, I couldn’t find.”
Still, Whetham did not need to say what he did at the commissioners’ meeting, Downie said.
Whetham disagreed.
“I would like to get to the bottom of this,” he said last week.
“My position is that in a democracy, this should be given a chance for our city residents to comment if they want their representatives involved in yet another community issue.
“There was plenty of opportunity for Council member Kidd to discuss this. I’m not happy about this solo quest.”
Whetham said the issue should have been brought up at the council’s regular Jan. 5 meeting.
Kidd said last week she put her name forward as a “placeholder” for the position so the council could meet the county’s Jan. 5 deadline.
“I understand [Whetham] has questions, and I am fully prepared to answer his questions, and I will answer them at [tonight’s] council meeting. It’s really not a problem from my point of view.”
Downie, not Kidd, attended Friday’s Trust Land Advisory Committee meeting. Kidd was out of town.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
