PORT ANGELES –– Saying they are up against a pending ballot deadline, attorneys today (Thursday) implored Clallam County Superior Court Judge Erik Rohrer to order a pair of initiatives to change Sequim’s dealings with municipal employee unions be put on the Nov. 4 general election ballot.
“The timing is critical,” said Shawn Newman, attorney for Susan Brautigam of Sequim, who filed a lawsuit against the city Sept. 3 because it did not respond to the local initiatives within the legally-prescribed time frame.
Responding that voting will begin as soon as Friday, city and county officials said that deadline has already passed.
“It’s impossible to get the ballots printed in time,” Clallam County Prosecuting Attorney Will Payne told Rohrer.
The legality of the initiatives was briefly discussed before Rohrer, but the issues he was considering centered around the ballot deadline and whether the Teamsters Local 589, which represents 50 Sequim employees, could join the city’s defense.
Rohrer said he needed to read more about each side’s case and pledged to offer a written ruling soon.
The initiatives, presented to the city of Sequim on July 28 through a pair of petitions organized by Susan Shotthaffer of Port Angeles, seek to open contract negotiations with municipal employee unions and allow city workers to opt out of union representation.
The hearing was on Brautigam’s lawsuit which claims state law that allows municipal initiatives spells out a time frame that the city did not meet.
City Attorney Craig Ritchie argued the state law that lays out election timelines required issues for the November ballot be submitted to the county auditor by Aug. 5.
“That is when you have to have a resolution for a ballot issue,” Ritchie said.
Newman said the county’s contract with Everett-based K&H Printers specified a Sept. 22 deadline for ballots to be produced.
That date is only the last day it could be done, and the ballots are already printed, Clallam County Auditor Patty Rosand said after the hearing.
Rosand also noted each election must have its own separate database that corresponds with ballots and is set up well before the ballots are printed. The Nov. 4 database, she said, has already been set.
She added that some 300 ballots will be mailed today to Clallam County residents serving overseas in the military and estimated that another 200 military members will be able to vote online starting Friday.
Under the law that allows for initiatives to be filed in Sequim, the city has 20 days after petitions are certified by the county auditor to either respond to the proposals or put them on the ballot for a public vote.
“The citizens who organized these petitions did so under the rules spelled out on the city’s website,” Scot Roberts, an activist with the conservative Olympia think tank Freedom Foundation, said after the hearing.
“If those rules aren’t right, why even have the power of initiative?”
Sequim is one of 57 of the state’s 281 communities that allow citizen initiatives.
Rosand certified the petitions Aug. 8, which would have given the city a deadline of Aug. 28.
The city council Sept. 8 voted to do neither of the prescribed options after Ritchie advised them the initiatives could put the city in legal jeopardy.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Joe Smillie can be reached at 360-681-2390, ext. 5052, or at jsmillie@peninsuladailynews.com.
EARLIER STORY:
PORT ANGELES –– A pair of changes to Sequim’s dealings with municipal employee unions that were proposed by citizen petitions will be the topic of a Clallam County Superior Court hearing today (Thursday).
Judge Erik Rohrer will be asked in a hearing at 9 a.m. in the courthouse at 223 E. Fourth St. to decide whether the two initiatives are legal and, if they are, to order them on the November ballot.
The initiatives, presented to the city of Sequim on July 28 through a pair of petitions organized by Susan Shotthaffer of Port Angeles, seek to open contract negotiations with municipal employee unions and allow city workers to opt out of union representation.
City Attorney Craig Ritchie advised the council not to act on the initiatives, saying they could put the city in legal jeopardy.
Under the law that allows for initiatives to be filed in Sequim, the city has 20 days after petitions are certified by the county auditor to either respond to the proposals or put them on the ballot for a public vote.
Clallam County Auditor Patty Rosand certified the petitions Aug. 8, which would have given the city a deadline of Aug. 28.
On Sept. 3, Susan Brautigam filed a lawsuit against the city for failing to act within that timeline.
Advocates for and against the measures have packed the past two council meetings.
Proponents argued that the measures are good for citizens and workers.
Opponents said the measures were proposed from outside Sequim in an effort to take away union power.
Sequim is one of 57 of the state’s 281 communities that allow citizen initiatives.
Fifty of Sequim’s 73 employees are represented in one of three unions represented by Teamsters Local 589: police sergeants, police patrol officers and non-uniformed employees.
The other 23 employees are not unionized, meaning they either are in management or confidential positions.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Joe Smillie can be reached at 360-681-2390, ext. 5052, or at jsmillie@peninsuladailynews.com.
