PORT ANGELES — Port of Port Angeles Commissioner James D. Hallett, citing the ethics of his fellow commissioners, has announced he will resign from the position he has held since 2012.
“It is my belief that the actions of my fellow commissioners that occurred under the new business section of our Jan. 12, 2016, meeting violated the open public meetings act in the occurrence of fairness doctrine — if not in technical terms, then certainly [in] the spirit and essence of both,” Hallett said during his announcement Tuesday at a port commission meeting.
“It is time for us to part company,” he said.
“I intend, therefore, to offer my resignation as port commissioner, and I will work out the details with our [the port’s] attorney.”
Although he has not set a date for resigning, Hallett, 60, of Port Angeles said he believes the process will be concluded within the month.
“I need to work that out,” he said following the meeting, remarking that he has been mulling the idea for the past week and that it was not made lightly.
“I don’t know what the proper protocol is. I would expect it is likely going to be the end of this calendar month, probably. It is not going to be March or April.”
The appearance of fairness doctrine is a rule of law requiring government decision-makers to conduct non-court hearings and proceedings in a way that is fair and unbiased in both appearance and fact, he said.
Hallett was referring to a discussion by fellow Commissioners Connie Beauvais and Colleen McAleer during a Jan. 12 meeting to change the day and time they gather for regular meetings, currently set for Tuesday mornings.
They had wanted to switch from Tuesdays to Fridays but are now considering switching to Mondays instead.
At issue, Hallett said, is that Beauvais and McAleer had met with each other prior to the Jan. 12 meeting to discuss changing meeting days and electing McAleer as commission president in place of Hallett, who previously had held the position.
McAleer was elected president Jan. 12.
McAleer and Beauvais held an informal gathering at Olympic Bagel Co. in December.
The meeting was announced and the public was invited to join the two.
But Hallett said they also met privately.
He said he met with interim director Karen Goschen on Jan. 8, “and during this meeting, [the] executive director told me the following: that Commissioner McAleer and Beauvais had already met privately and they wanted me . . . out as president and Commissioner McAleer in as president.”
Goschen “also informed me that both Commissioners McAleer and Beauvais had decided they would be changing the regular meeting dates of the port from Tuesday to Friday,” Hallett said.
McAleer added that she had proposed informal work sessions during which the topics could have been discussed.
“I requested workshops after the election was over, no matter who won,” she said. “You [Hallett] were not interested in doing that.”
Since Beauvais was officially sworn in Jan. 12, any discussions she had with McAleer previous to that time would not constitute a quorum, Beauvais said, and not be illegal.
“Yes,” Beauvais conceded during Tuesday’s meeting, “I met with Commissioner McAleer” before officially being sworn in “to talk about board business with her . . . and also about how she felt about things.”
However, “I have not done anything that is improper at all. I was not an elected official.”
Said McAleer: “From my perspective, I have done nothing” unethical either.
Despite such assertions, “my fellow commissioners’ actions totally disregarded our core values of accountability of transparency and set a precedent I cannot follow,” Hallett said.
“My fellow commissioners, by meeting privately out of the public eye and by agreeing in advance prior to the meeting, violated my due process, they violated the public’s due process, they violated the heart of the open public meetings act and the appearance of fairness doctrine.”
Hallett also said the actions of his fellow commissioners have “destroyed any trust” between them and that he cannot continue on the path they have laid out.
“Without any trust, there is no basis for any relationship . . . between me and the two of you, and there is no basis for any relationship between the public and a commission that conducts their actions in this way,” he said.
Beauvais and McAleer said they were sorry Hallett felt he needed to resort to a resignation.
“I am sorry you feel so violated,” Beauvais said. “It should never have come to that point.”
Beauvais said she talked with Hallett about the issues Dec. 24 but that he “did not offer much during that discussion.”
McAleer said she is “really disappointed” by Hallett’s announcement.
“I am really saddened that you have taken this action. I don’t think it is good for our board. I don’t think it is good for our community,” she said.
“But if you have decided that you can’t trust us, I think that is the right answer.”
Hallett represents District 2, the central part of the county.
“I have been very privileged to serve,” he said after the meeting.
“It is a calling that I still take seriously, so to step away with two years left on my term because I was the last of the people elected to six years” is difficult.
Hallett is a lifelong Washington resident, a graduate of Pacific Lutheran University and moved to Port Angeles in 1978.
His public service spans more than three decades. Appointed to the Port Angeles Planning Commission in 1984, he was elected to the Port Angeles City Council in 1985 and re-elected in 1989, serving as mayor from 1992-93.
Hallett and his wife, Joanne, have two grown sons.
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Reporter Chris McDaniel can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5074, or cmcdaniel@peninsuladailynews.com.
