PORT ANGELES — Mayor Karen Rogers blasted City Councilman Gary Braun on Monday for publicly proposing an alternative to the $13.8 million aquatic center bond issue, saying the council was instructed against campaigning once the issue was on the ballot.
“As council members, we’re not allowed to campaign on the bond issue either way. I don’t think Gary should have done that,” Rogers said in an interview Monday.
Earlier in the day, she had harshly criticized Braun at the Port Angeles Regional Chamber of Commerce weekly luncheon.
“We’ve been counseled on what our role is regarding the bond, and you’ve never seen another council member do this,” she said.
In an interview published in the Peninsula Daily News on Sunday, Braun, a former mayor of Port Angeles who was reelected to the council, presented an alternative that involved buying school district property to the north for an extensive remodeling of the current William Shore Memorial Swimming Pool.
Then the city could increase the project “footprint” for refurbishing the pool, which would allow room for the slides and other features in the proposed aquatic center, he said.
Braun said his estimate was $5 million for the remodel and $1 million for the property acquisition — far less than the $13.8 million, 20-year bond issue on city residents’ Nov. 7 general election ballot to build the aquatic center and leave space for a future indoor soccer and tennis building at the Clallam County Family YMCA site at 302 S. Francis St.
“I want to encourage the voters to do their own evaluation and disregard this [Braun’s] statement,” said Rogers.
“I respect Gary Braun, but this one surprised me.
She was critical of the PDN for publishing the interview with Braun just after voters got their ballots for the all-mail Nov. 7 election.
“I felt very blindsided by this. The timing isn’t fair,” she said.
Braun was unavailable for comment. He left Port Angeles last weekend on a 10-day vacation.
