FORKS — The Forks City Council voted unanimously Monday night to pay for legal costs to defend Mayor Nedra Reed should she be the target of a formal recall attempt.
The council on Monday also approved hiring of legal counsel if necessary for arbitration hearings involving three recently fired Police Department employees.
Reed asked for the council vote for recall defense funds in a letter. She made no comment about it at the meeting.
A petition for the recall of the mayor is expected to be filed with the Clallam County Auditor’s Office sometime this week or next week.
City Attorney Rod Fleck said state law allows the city to pay for the legal costs associated with a recall if the council approves it.
“We will contact the insurance risk pool for reimbursement, but there are some things they cover and some things they don’t,” Fleck said.
“Until we have an actual legal document outlining the charges we won’t know if they will fund it.”
The wording of the petition is under legal review, said Karleen Powell, the ex-wife of Forks Police Chief Mike Powell, who has said that her attempt to organize a recall of the mayor is in response to the firing of the Forks Police Department employees effective Feb. 29.
She said the three — former sergeants JoElle Munger and Tom Scott and former communications officer Deanna Dematteis, who have appealed the terminations through the Teamsters Union — were fired because of retribution for making complaints against the police chief.
The city conducted two internal investigations of complaints about the police chief’s hiring and discipline practices and of sexual harassment by Mike Powell in April and June last year.
The investigations resulted in mandatory training in “respect and professionalism” in the workplace for all city staff and counseling of the chief.
