EDITOR’S NOTE — This public statement was released at Tuesday’s special City Council meeting.
It was drafted — on behalf of the entire council at the request of Mayor Gary Braun — last week by council members Dan Di Guilio, Betsy Wharton and Larry Williams.
It was adopted unanimously by the seven-member council at the special meeting.
Joint Statement by members of The City Council of Port Angeles
Reports in the media have called the legality and adequacy of our performance into question.
We acknowledge and thank the many citizens and leaders of this community for their expressions of concern.
As it relates to the conduct of business and the functioning of the Council — when there is reasonable cause to suspect a criminal violation, an independent investigative team from a neighboring law enforcement agency will conduct a thorough investigation and any resulting charges will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
The City Manager has explained to Council that he never intended to allege any criminal law violations and does not believe any criminal law violations occurred.
The City Attorney and Chief of Police have reviewed the actions on which the City Manager based his concerns in his memorandums to Council.
They found no facts that support even the suspicion of a criminal offense having been committed and thus no reasonable cause to call for an independent investigation or prosecution.
We do find some actions and activities have been inappropriate in the council-manager form of city government.
This has resulted in an extended period of internal friction within the Council which has stressed the continuity of government.
We admit we have not been effective in cultivating the orderly transition of power conveyed to us at the beginning of the year, and we apologize for the frustration and impact this has had on the community.
It is our task as a full council to regretfully accept Manager Madsen’s letter of resignation.
As a body, we commit to the following corrective actions:
1. We will contract with a qualified professional interim Manager in a timely manner . . . the level and quality of services to the citizens of Port Angeles will not be interrupted or impacted.
2. We will initiate a process to seek and retain a qualified full time City Manager.
3. We will review, develop, and adopt additional revisions to the Council Rules and Procedures.
We intend to equip this and future Councils with the means of effectively addressing any similar performance in the future.
This action will provide tools currently not available to the Council, and we will use them to build a better system of accountability.
4. We pledge to this community — as one body — to immediately and radically alter the current situation and state of affairs.
It is our goal and our promise to provide a reflective atmosphere which fosters constructive debate.
We also assure the citizens of this community they will receive the quality of government and the kind of representation they rightly and justly deserve.
