PORT TOWNSEND –Mayor Kees Kolff’s proposals to personally preside over a City Council retreat, rearrange council seating and lower Council Chambers desks have spawned an imbroglio between him and two veteran councilmen.
In a Dec. 23 letter, Kolff told council members he would like to facilitate the city’s Jan. 25 retreat, citing a need to save money.
On Dec. 27, a vacationing Kolff e-mailed members suggesting drawers be removed from Council Chambers desks. He also suggested cutting 4 inches off desk legs.
The e-mail also said he wanted to rearrange council seating to separate veteran and recently-elected council members.
The letter and e-mail evoked harsh responses from Councilmen Joe Finnie and Geoff Masci, with each rejecting all of Kolff’s proposals.
“It’s an effective demonstration that all of the complaints about this being lotus land are becoming painfully and embarrassingly true,” Masci said Saturday.
Kolff, a retired medical doctor, cited health reasons for the proposed desk alterations, noting the desks are less than 20 years old.
“Like the rest of you, I have suffered this past year behind a desk that is too high with a drawer that comes too low,” he wrote in the e-mail. “In truth the design of the council desks actually threatens the circulation of blood to our legs and may not be good for the prevention of varicose veins or thrombosis.”
————-
The rest of the story appears in the Sunday Peninsula Daily News. Click on SUBSCRIBE, above, to get the PDN delivered to your home or office.
