PORT ANGELES — The Port Angeles City Council has voted unanimously to put a ballot resolution before voters in the Nov. 7 election that is still facing hurdles.
It would change the city’s form of government to a second-class city. Petitioners asking for the ballot measure said that it would prompt an election of all members of the City Council.
The election would be within about five months after four positions are up for a vote in that same Nov. 7 election, according to Olympia attorney Gerald Steel, who represents the anti-fluoridation group Our Water, Our Choice!,
Steel expects that, if the measure passes, the election would be held by April 2018, he said Wednesday.
Steel said the City Council did the right thing.
“I appreciate that the council chose to listen to the petitioners,” he said.
City Attorney Bill Bloor, who has questioned the legality of the petition as to whether it would prompt a new election of all seats on the City Council, said governments statewide are watching Port Angeles as it goes through a process that has never been done before in the state of Washington — change from a code city to a second-class city to elect an entirely new council.
“If we were to initiate court action on this, it would draw more interest than just the Port Angeles community,” Bloor said.
“There is a possibility that it would end up going to the Court of Appeals and the [state] Supreme Court.”
Councilwoman Sissi Bruch’s concern was “listening to the people,” she said.
“I do think listening to the people supersedes legality.
“If it passes, we can go ahead and spend money to find out what is legal and what is not [legal] about it.”
Bruch joined other council members who said they were opposed to the change to second-class status but that they were swayed by the efforts of the petitioners.
The council’s vote on Tuesday was followed minutes later by a pledge from a resident who vowed to vigorously fight the ballot measure regardless of the volume of names garnered by the effort.
David Mabrey said he represents the Facebook groups Code Choice PA and Fluoride Choice PA.
The groups “are united by a single cause, correcting the wrong of a misguided petition” that was “blindly signed” by its supporters, Mabrey said.
City Manager Dan McKeen said after the meeting that he will have the ballot wording ready for council review by the council’s May 2 regular meeting.
It will then be reviewed by Clallam County Auditor Shoona Riggs and Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Brian Wendt.
Wendt will “make sure it complies with legal, procedural requirements,” he said.
“If people have questions about the legality issue, they can come forward themselves.
“The role of the county in the process is to shepherd the process.”
A county decision approving the ballot title can be appealed to Clallam County Superior Court within 10 days of that approval, Wendt said.
Council members had the option Tuesday to ask for a court declaratory judgment on the legality of the petition.
Instead, they rejected McKeen’s recommendation to do so.
McKeen had agreed with a legal analysis by University of Washington Professor Hugh Spitzer that a declaratory judgment was preferable “because of the confusion engendered by the wording” of the petition, which says that a second-class city would be formed “in order to elect a full new city council.”
Spitzer, whose advice cost the city $5,565, said in his report that the petition was “deceptive and misleading” and does not follow the requirements of state law.
But council members said they should heed the will of more than 1,000 people who signed the petition.
“By seeking a declaratory judgment, that would be kind of setting that request aside,” Councilman Dan Gase said. “The ballot reflects exactly what [the petitioners] were asking for, including intent.”
Mayor Patrick Downie agreed.
“To do less than that would not be right,” he said. “We need to hear from the electorate.”
No council members spoke in favor of electing an entirely new City Council in 2018 or changing to second-class status.
Deputy Mayor Cherie Kidd said the petition that Our Water, Our Choice! had put forward would not be allowed if Port Angeles were a second-class city.
Bloor also decried it as “a back door to a recall” of a sitting council without going through steps already laid out under state law.
Councilman Michael Merideth suggested the issue was about more than fluoridation, which had been supported by a majority of council members despite a non-scientific survey of city water bill-payers that showed overwhelming opposition to the practice.
“To not put this on the ballot is once again not listening to what the people want,” Merideth said.
Fluoridation of city water was stopped in August. An advisory vote about whether to make that permanent is on the Nov. 7 ballot.
Councilman Lee Whetham said he would address one complaint of second-class-city advocates — that a public comment period is not required at all city committee meetings.
Whetham said he would ask the staff to add a public comment period to those agendas.
“Let’s just go forward with honoring the intention” of the petition, he said.
It will be the job of the council, Whetham added, to talk with the community about “the pluses and minuses” of the ballot measure.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 55650, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
