In the wake of two rounds of controversial appointments to the Whatcom County Council and the County Planning Commission, Ken Mann decided the rules needed a change.
And so, on Tuesday, March 16, Councilman Mann and his peers will discuss proposed amendments to both the process to appoint a council person to a vacant seat as well as appointing residents to other volunteer boards and commissions.
While council members all seem to agree that changes should be made to better outline the process, they already disagree on exactly what should be done. Mann proposes changes, while County Councilman Sam Crawford wants to put in rules basically allowing what happened in the controversial situations.
CONTROVERSY
Though there has been little criticism in the past about the appointment processes of the council or for boards and commissions, since a new conservative majority was elected in late 2009 there has been plenty of it, largely from members of the Whatcom County Democratic Party and local activists.
When County Councilman Bob Kelly resigned in late November, it was up to the County Council to nominate a replacement and appoint someone. If they failed to do so within 30 days, the selection fell to County Executive Pete Kremen.
Though 24 people applied to the position, Crawford nominated outgoing Councilman Ward Nelson at the appointment meeting. With Nelson voting on all applicants but himself, the council deadlocked, sending the selection to Kremen, who picked the veteran councilman to serve until the November 2010 election.
County attorneys have said the process was both legal and ethical, despite questions and criticisms from Democrats.
Also, when a slew of applicants applied for the Planning Commission, former council candidate Michelle Luke offered up her candidacy the day of the meeting, rather than during the council's advertised deadline. There was no specific rule on a deadline, however, and the council has traditionally accepted applications up until the time of the meeting.
But people still raised questions about having an application deadline and then simply ignoring it for anyone who stepped forward at a council meeting.
MANN'S PROPOSAL
"I thought both appointment processes were beset by confusion and questions, and I thought it would be best to tighten up the language and make things clear, consistent and easy to follow," Mann said.
The councilman doesn't want to get into discussions about whether Nelson's appointment was ethical. He doesn't think anything "shady" occurred. But the council can learn from the issue, he said.
To shore up the rules, Mann has proposed:
• To select an interim council member, a majority of all remaining council members make the selection. County attorneys had previously said county rules require that a majority vote has to be at least four people. That legal opinion has been disputed by Tim Ford, special assistant attorney general for government accountability.
• For board and commission applicants, a 14-day period is created between the time applications are due and when the council can vote on the process. This gives more time for council members to consider applicants and allows for more transparency of the process.
OTHER CHANGES
After public criticism, Crawford said he decided to codify the processes that took place, both for the council appointment as well as the traditional way the council has accepted last-minute applications for boards and commissions.
Crawford's proposal for County Council vacancies:
• Bars County Council member from nominating themselves to fill a vacant council seat and vote on their own appointment.
• Allows a council member who has been nominated to vote on the selection of other applicants.
• Anyone who has lost a recent election would not be allowed to seek a vacant seat in the same time period.
Some critics of what occurred with the appointment process, including the Democrats, were stumping for former County Councilman Dan McShane to receive the council appointment. He had just lost a close election to political newcomer Kathy Kershner by 304 votes.
"The issue is if there's an election and the voters reject someone ... should the council then be able to go back and put that person on the council anyway?" Crawford said. "And I say no."
The councilman said the proposal isn't directed specifically at McShane's election loss and subsequent application to the council. But Mann said he thinks it is specific to McShane and that the proposed language is "beneath" the council and "unnecessary."
Mann has proposed deleting the part of Crawford's proposal that would allow a nominated council member to vote on other applicants.
"I think the county council needs to be above reproach," Mann said, "and if we're going to abide by the appearance of fairness doctrine then I don't know how anyone can argue that essentially voting on something in which you're a candidate is a viable option. It just doesn't make sense to me."
Crawford disagrees.
"If there's room to question it, I think the overwhelming situation that likely occurred was some partisan bickering about the situation only from the folks that didn't get their way," he said. "Yeah, I suppose there's an academic discussion that could occur, but I'm not going to go so far as to say there's an ethical problem here."
Crawford's proposal for boards and commissions:
• Allows the council to accept applicants until the last minute. He said this is because frequently nobody applies to certain boards and commissions, and someone sitting in the audience at a council meeting might volunteer.
• A person who has served two consecutive terms on a board or commission would be required to leave the body for at least one year before reapplying. In the past, county attorneys have said this would be OK, but a more recent legal opinion disagrees.
Mann has proposed deleting those two amendments as well.
E-Mail
Print
