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04/19/2006: "CC Faces The Music From Citizens"

(Pam Nichols, center, in red, addresses Council)

A normal Tuesday County Council meeting starts with a pledge to the flag by the County Council, and then there is an opportunity for members of the public to have five minutes to address the Council on just about any subject they wish. Most Tuesdays no one from the public shows up. On Tuesday of this week the room was packed with citizens, and Chair Alan Lichter told them "Good to see such a large crowd this morning".

He may have felt that way, but based on the expressions of Councilman Bob Myhr, and Kevin Ranker, it was clear they may not have been in complete agreement with the Chair on that one, since they both were aware of the criticism that had followed their actions in appointing one of the members of the Salary Commission, and they clearly knew why there was "such a large crowd" sitting in front of them.

The crowd was there to speak on the Salary Commission appointment of Randy Cornelius over Pam Nichols. Nichols had been on the "A-Team", as County Administrator David Goldsmith had referred to his appointments of candidates for the Salary Commission, and therefore was his first choice to fill the requirement that one of the members of the Salary Commission be selected from a "professional personnel management" sector of the county.

Under the RCW (Revised Code of Washington), Goldsmith was required to appoint, but he still needed the Council to approve the appointments. The Council quickly rejected Nichols without comment, and so Goldsmith came back with a name from his "B" team: Randy Cornelius, the General Manager of Orcas Power & Light. Myhr -a board member of OPALCO- suggested the other two select Cornelius, and the Council -again without comment- agreed. Only problem was, many members of the public failed to understand why the Council would pass on someone who, based on their background, was clearly the superior choice for the position.


(continued from front)
Pam Nichols was the first to take advantage of the free five minutes, and left no doubt that she would not be going quietly into the night. After a rejection of her thirty plus years experience, and having been in charge of the Human Resources of an international corporation, she wanted answers from the Council as to why they would reject the County Administrator's appointment.

The speakers who followed also wanted answers as to why someone of her caliber was passed over, for someone who clearly was not at the same professional level as Nichols -at least in terms of experience in human resources. The following speakers, and there were a number of them, some who joined the chorus of protest and questing, told the Councilmen "Your job is to choose the best candidate for the job, you did not do this!... Your missing a golden opportunity… The Council owes it to the voters to appoint the best person…'; and "It is critical to have a professional on this commission" ; and so it went.

One of the last speakers was Stephens Robins, who told the Council that he had not intended to speak but felt compelled to say there was a "mismatch between the words and the music of the Council..you say you want to move quickly and transparently to put in place the Charter, but the sprit of the Charter is missing in your actions…The Charter was passed to avoid the approach to government you are taking". Robins, one of the founders of the movement to form a Charter government, hit the right chord with the group, and spontaneous applause broke out. The only discordant note came from Tom Munsey, who told the Council that "There is an agenda here to stack the commission with rich people so only the rich can afford to run for office, and run the county".

In the end. Chair Lichter said that he would like to respond, and then asked if Kevin would like to lead off. Kevin did, and was hit by a barrage of questions and assertions in response to each of his statements, and he refused repeated requests that he simply explain why he rejected Nichols, saying only that "I'm not going to go into this". Bob Myhr saw the writing on the wall, and simply said that he thought the Council had approved four good people for the job. Alan Lichter decide to just go ahead and say it. It was about money. Lichter told the group that his "choice was based on what he believed this county needs. We have the highest land prices in the state, and the working people here have the lowest salaries in the state. My concern is people be given the best chance to run for office if they want to, and Pam's environment is the corporate world. Randy Cornelius worked his way up from lineman to the manager of OPALCO. He is a better fit for what this county needs, at this time".

Both Lichter and Ranker have told The Guardian they would not seek a second term if their pay was reduced. And with the removal of administrative duties, Ranker said it was as if "you're hired to be a football player, and then they come out and hand you a baseball." There was an expressed concern from the speakers that the Council was afraid that since Nichols was married to a former Freeholder, and the Charter had stripped the Council of their administrative duties and assigned them to a full-time County Manager, Nichols may have worked to lower the salaries of the council, since it was the intent of the Charter that the change to the new government be revenue neutral, and that one way that could happen was to keep the total budget amount for the Commission at the same level; or less, if possible.