SEQUIM — Architect Ken Hays, one of the City Council’s most fervently outspoken members, was chosen Monday night to be the city’s mayor through 2011.
Laura Dubois, mayor for the past two years, nominated Hays in her first move of the new year.
But then Don Hall, a newly sworn-in member, nominated another new member: Ted Miller, who also had just taken the oath of office to serve for four years on the council.
“He has no baggage,” Hall said of Miller. “He’s what I call a clean person.”
“I’m honored,” said Miller, the 64-year-old attorney and retired CIA analyst who ousted longtime council member Walt Schubert in last November’s election.
But, Miller added, he’d already decided to vote for Hays.
The vote was 5-2, with Hays himself, Dubois and members Bill Huizinga, Erik Erichsen and Miller electing the mayor.
No division
And though Hall and council member Susan Lorenzen had voted for Miller, Lorenzen quickly assured Hays that there’s no division on the council, at least on this issue.
“Don’t think that the two of us aren’t going to support you, Ken,” Lorenzen said.
She added she thought about the fact “you’re working, and you have a career,” since Hays is one of only two council members who isn’t retired.
Hays said he’d given the possibility of becoming mayor a lot of thought.
The job “is largely ceremonial as moderator of the council,” he said. “I hope any baggage I have is not going to be too excessive.”
Hays has owned his own architecture firm in Sequim since 1988, while Huizinga is a right-of-way agent for Clallam County.
Hall, 77, is a retired quality assurance manager; Erichsen was a project manager at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation; Lorenzen is retired from the Air Force; and Dubois was a budget analyst in California before retiring to Sequim.
Mayor pro tem
Next, Miller nominated Dubois to the mayor pro tem post, Lorenzen nominated Erichsen and Erichsen nominated Miller.
Dubois quickly won the vote, however, as Miller, Huizinga, Hays and Dubois herself raised their hands in favor.
So Dubois, who was mayor for the past two years while Hays was mayor pro tem, switched spots.
Dubois had expressed her desire to leave the mayoral post, Hays said, though he considered her a “calming presence . . . during a turbulent time on the council.”
The past two years have been rife with controversy, with council members arguing over the imposition of more fees for developers, the establishment of a new citizens’ panel called Sequim Speaks and — most of all — the firing of city manager Bill Elliott in May 2008.
The members didn’t find a successor for him until October, when they hired Steve Burkett — and even that was a struggle, since their first selection was Vernon Stoner, a candidate the council later rejected after a Peninsula Daily News investigative report revealed that he had been the target of sexual harassment claims while working in the state Insurance Commissioner’s Office.
Old vs. new
Time and again, the four council members elected in November 2007 — all of whom voted to fire Elliott because of a management style they said no longer served Sequim — had tangled with longtime members Walt Schubert and Paul McHugh.
A main point of contention was how Sequim should continue to grow and how much builders should have to pay the city before they construct chain stores or subdivisions.
While McHugh decided not to run for re-election, Schubert lost to Miller after a contentious race.
And Hall, who defeated Planning Commissioner Mike East, won McHugh’s seat after describing himself as one who could get along with everybody and anybody who would be on the council.
Mood light
On Monday night, Burkett, referring to Hays’ remark about hoping his baggage wasn’t too excessive, sought to keep the mood light.
“Ken, I’m glad you have a sense of humor to bring a little levity to the council meetings. Sometimes we’re way too serious,” he said.
Finally, Ruth Marcus, a community activist who often speaks up during the council’s public comment period, added another ray of verbal sun to the proceedings.
“I’m very excited,” she said, “and very hopeful that this new configuration of council members is going to be able to work in a very cooperative way.”
________
Sequim-Dungeness Valley Reporter Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
