PORT TOWNSEND – Those whose signatures appeared more than once on a petition to change the form of city government are under investigation by city police.
Signing a city petition more than once is a misdemeanor punishable by up to 90 days in jail and a $1,000 fine, said Prosecuting Attorney Juelie Dalzell, whose office forwarded the names of seven people to the Port Townsend Police Department for investigation.
Seven people signed at least twice a petition calling for an election to change the present form of Port Townsend government from one with a city manager to one with a strong mayor. The change would mean that city manager David Timmons would lose his job.
“There was enough concerns from enough citizens that we took it upon ourselves to ask the Port Townsend Police to investigate,” Dalzell said on Friday.
On Aug. 13, the Port Townsend City Council rescinded an Aug. 6 resolution to put the question of changing the form of city government on the Nov. 6 ballot.
The action was taken after Mayor Mark Welch hired outside legal counsel to look into the Jefferson County Auditor’s procedures for certifying the signatures on a petition forcing the election.
Attorney P. Stephen DiJulio, of the law firm Foster Pepper of Seattle, was hired for $395 an hour and said he worked at least 10 hours.
DiJulio made several allegations of insufficiency about the petition certification, including that the signatures of seven people who signed the petition twice were each counted once.
DiJulio said that they shouldn’t have been counted at all, and Jefferson County Auditor Donna Eldridge agreed that, while on state petitions double signatures can be counted once, on city petitions, such signatures can’t be counted at all.
The petition required 455 Port Townsend resident signatures, and it was certified with 458.
