PORT TOWNSEND — With members Laurie Medlicott and Geoff Masci voting in opposition, the City Council on Monday urged the skipper of Naval Magazine Indian Island to participate in a public forum on plans to increase submarine presence at the facility.
“This is the responsibility of the citizens concerned to set up a forum. I do not believe that it is the city’s responsibility,” Medlicott said Monday night during council discussion of a mayoral letter, also thanking Capt. Jonathan Kurtz for taking city and county elected officials on a tour of the ordnance station last week.
“I’m not in support of a forum, and I don’t think they need to do any more,” Masci said of the Navy.
Those who took the Navy VIP tour last Tuesday included Mayor Mark Welch, and council members Michelle Sandoval, Frank Benskin and Masci.
Welch, Sandoval, and fellow council members Scott Walker and Catharine Robinson, however, approved sending Welch’s letter to Kurtz during a council meeting at the Port Townsend Fire Station on Monday night.
Councilman Frank Benskin was absent.
Base operations
The letter states: “Your openness has gone a long way towards dispelling some council concerns regarding base operations.
“In that light, we would encourage you to participate in a public informational forum, as proposed by the county.
“Where facts are available, it is difficult for rumor and myth to take hold. We believe that such a forum could be productive for both the citizen’s of our county as well as for the naval mission at Indian Island.
“We would be pleased to help facilitate such a meeting should it occur.”
