PORT TOWNSEND — Public comments delivered at the Port Townsend City Council’s regular meeting challenging the city’s financial health and criticizing the timing of the release of an unfavorable audit report drew a strong reaction from the mayor, city manager and a council member earlier this week.
Former City Councilman Vern Garrison took issue with a letter from Mayor Michelle Sandoval included with the November utility bill that stated: “Some of our detractors gleefully relish the thought that our city is in trouble. Their reports of our eminent demise are overstated.”
Said Garrison: “This comment conveys contempt and disrespect to the citizens of Port Townsend and is reprehensible.
“Add this insult to injury, the mayor is using our postage to deliver her scathing comments and repeating the comment to local newspapers as some sort of official spokesperson for the city,” he added.
Garrison criticized the city for the timing of the state auditor’s report, which was released to the public Oct. 24 and stated that the city’s general fund is in trouble.
“This crucial report was withheld from the voters’ scrutiny with no practical explanation,” Garrison said.
“The political explanation is more conceivable,” he said. “Delaying the information contained in the audit report would enhance the successful election of the status quo.”
Garrison was cut off after three minutes. The unread portion of his statement referred to a proposed levy lid lift for fire and emergency services, which was on Tuesday’s ballot.
Garrison said the city was in possession of the preliminary audit results Oct. 7 and did not release them at that time so that voters would support the fire levy and bail the city out because of its bad financial management.
Officials with both the state Auditor’s Office and the city said they had draft results of the audit on that date.
At that time, the city was preparing a response that was included in the final audit report.
Mindy Chambers, state Auditor’s Office spokeswoman, said the timing of the releases of the audit reports has to do with their dates of completion.
Chambers said her office recommends that municipalities not release the contents of a draft report “because it causes confusion to have two versions of a report out there.”
Both Sandoval and City Manager David Timmons responded to Garrison’s remarks.
“I know who the detractors are,” Timmons said. “I also know what the city’s finances are and believe we are doing the right thing.
“When we went into the recession, we decided to build our way out, and not sacrifice social services to save the general fund,” he said.
“We didn’t hide the auditor’s report. There was nothing in there that we weren’t already disclosing to council and addressing.”
Sandoval said her characterization of the opposition of “gleeful” detractors resulted from social media activity and email sent to her informing her of the city’s “bankruptcy” before she had read the audit report.
“The letters I received were full of exclamation points, ‘yay, yay, yays’ and ‘I told you so’ comments,” she said.
“They were sort of hysterical.
“When I said ‘gleeful detractors,’ I thought people were relishing the thought of us failing and that they were happy about the failure of their own city, which was unfortunate,” she said, as her voice broke.
“But since I sent the letter, the community has shown us amazing support, with many people telling us that the council and the city manager is doing exactly what we should.
“This has been quite meaningful to me.”
Timmons said he was accustomed to personal attacks “without merit and foundation” since beginning as city manager in 1999.
Garrison served on the council when the city switched to a city manager form of government and hired Timmons.
The city of Port Townsend reported Garrison served on the council from February 1999 to December 2001.
Laurie Medlicott, who is leaving the council at the end of the year, said she often disagrees with Sandoval but maintained that every City Council member is independent of the mayor.
“This is not fun sitting here,” she said.
“A personal attack from someone who didn’t get their way in the past and might not in the future is out of line and unfair,” she said.
“I don’t know what Michelle has in her pocket. It could be a frog or a toad or a 50-cent piece, but I am not in her pocket, and neither is any of the other council members.
“We speak for ourselves.”
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Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
