Island Guardian

Tuesday, May 16th

Court Grants Partial Stay Request -Good/Bad News

The Washington Court of Appeals recent decision to grant the County Council's request to continue a stay on their decision may be good news for some, and bad news for others; but who it helps or hurts is not clear. The Council had asked for an additional 180 days to their original request for a stay Previous Story to allow time for the Council to pass an ordinance that would satisfy the Growth Management Boards order on ADUs (Accessory Dwelling Units). But the bad news for the Council is the decision by the Court to only grant a stay until July 31, which is a shorter time than was requested.

If the Council can continue to move as quickly as they have, they still have a chance to run the ordinance through the process and have it submitted to the State prior to the end of the stay. Previous Story.

But more bad news was included in the Court order for the Council when the Court also stated the Court would accept the new filings of Amicus Curiae briefs of Orcas land owner Margaret Manning Previous Story
, and -really bad news- also one from Clallam County, Previous Story both of which argued that the Court should not extend the stay, and instead they should issue a decision on the appeal that had originally been filed by the County.

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CC Takes On Guesthouse Vesting Ord Again

The County Council has received a proposed draft ordinance from the Planning Commission, that is intended to provide relief to landowners that have found themselves caught in the Accessory Dwelling Unit battle. The appeal of the ADU regulations has resulted in a number of property owners being denied a right to construct their main house, because they had first constructed a "guest house", and now cannot build a "main house"; unless they remove the kitchen from the guest house, in effect turning the guest house into sleeping quarters.

The council is attempt to provide a vesting mechanism that will allow those trapped by the ongoing legal battles to have a window of opportunity within which a main residence may be constructed. Randy Gaylord, the County Prosecutor has addressed the issue by preparing a draft for Council review, but it was rejected by the Council for the Planning Commission version, which is a modification of the O'day and Bahrych proposal presented to the Council in February. Previous Story: "PA & CC At Odds..Again"

A work session was held on the draft ordinance on Tuesday, but the Council was unable to complete the work, and will hold a second work session prior to moving their work product to a public hearing, not yet scheduled.

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Friday, May 12th

Serious Questions On CC Selection Process

ig_Charlie_Bodenstab-1 (51k image) Who's idea was it?
The County Council recently met to review a list of applicants the consulting firm of Waldron & Company had selected as potential candidates for the County Administrator position. The process involved the weeding out of over 50 applicants that Councilman Myhr labeling as "well qualified individuals" . Myhr said it was "Difficult to get down to the twelve" candidates that now form a group that will be thinned down to a final list of 3 or 5.

The process of making the 12 choices was made in executive session, which is the normal process when the County discusses the qualifications of job applicants. But what was unexpected -and may be a first for the County- the Council excluded their Human Resources manager, Becky Rusnak, as well as Karen Vedder, their attorney, and also pro-tem County Administrator David Goldsmith from the meeting. Rusnak and Vedder had just sat down for the meeting, when Lichter announced that the room was to be cleared for the executive session. Vedder asked Lichter "You don't want me to be here?" Lichter replied that only the Council and the Waldron representative would be involved in the meeting.

The exclusions has raised some eyebrows and some questions, both within and outside of County government, as to why would the Council not want local, and also possible legal input, on such an important decision from their Human Resources director and their attorney. In yet another unexpected development, Becky Rusnak, SJC Human Resource Manager, announced her resignation to the Council, and will be leaving before the end of the month. Asked if there was a relationship between her sudden announcement and her exclusion from the meeting, Rusnak simply said that "it is time to move on". The question remains as to who came up with the idea to exclude staff from observing, and being a part of, the first selection process. The Council said Waldron & Company is the reason, but an executive at Waldron, says no, that is not the case.

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CC May Form CA Review Committees

The Council plans to hold interviews with each of the final 12 applicants that have now been selected by the Council for the CA (County Administrator) position. These interviews are expected to be held in executive session, but Councilman Myhr has increasingly shown concern about just how much of the process should be conducted behind closed doors. There is also the question of will these interviews be conducted by only the three council members, or will other appropriate members of county government -and the public- be allowed to observe and comment?

Based on a press release issued last week from the Council, now that the final 12 candidates have been selected, "a panel of Elected Officials, appointed Department Heads, and the Administrator Pro-Tem will individually meet with each candidate throughout the day. At the close of the day's interviews, with input from the two panels and the Administrator Pro-Tem, the Council will review and evaluate the final candidates' qualifications" . While Chairman Lichter is on record as stating "I believe it is very important that any citizens interested be provided the opportunity to meet with our finalists," the question being asked now is, can persons other than the Council members ask questions of the candidates, and give input to the Council

The Council office had issued a statement following the executive session on the 15th, that "the Council may meet in Executive Session to complete the review the qualifications of the candidates, but hopes to conclude discussions and select a final candidate for County Administrator in open public session that day. .

Based on past actions of the Council (see story above) It had seemed unlikely at this late a date that a broad range of stake holders from the public would also be a part of the interview process, and be allowed to give input on a decision that will affect them. And while Ranker is quoted in the press release as stating "This is one of the most important decisions we will make as a Council, I am pleased with the thoughtful and involved process so far". So is that the end of the discussion on the selection process? Perhaps not.

Councilman Myhr told the Island Guardian that " I do not consider that the final decision about the process has been made by the Council. So stay tuned. ". The former Freeholders and other interest parties are still tuned in, and are paying attention, and sure enough, at the next Council meeting (Tuesday the 8th) the question of "transparency of the process" came up again, both at Citizen's access time, and also later in the meeting after Bob Myhr gave a report on how the selection process may proceed in the future.

In response to questions raised at the meeting by Susan Robins and by The Island Guardian, Myhr said he believed review committees should be assembled by the Council that would hold their own separate interviews of the finalists, and then be allowed to submit a report of some type to the Council for Council review and consideration. In addition to the members of county government, Myhr said there should also be a group formed that broadly reflected members of the community.

As Councilman Myhr said: "Stay tuned".

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Monday, May 8th

Council To Hold Another Public Hearing On ADUs

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In the last episode of our continuing saga of the Council attempting to come up with a solution to the guest house lawsuit/appeal/proposed ordinance revision, of the last revision, of the prior revision, Previous Story we watched the Council instructing the staff to prepare a new draft ordinance, based on the Council's verbal comments made during the Council meeting on Tuesday (May 2). The new draft would then be made available to the public, when the Council met three days later on Friday (May 5) of the same week to take a look, at the draft.

At the Friday meeting the County Council was expected by many to dive into the latest rendition of the proposed ordinance, and attempt to work out some of the nagging details that just don't seem to go away, then pass it, and set a new date for a public hearing on it. Myhr had fine-tuned his draft solution, had made copies available to the public, and launched into an explanation of the details (photo, right). Myhr wanted to get down to discussion and analysis, but to the surprise of many, and seemingly including Councilman Myhr, Lichter and Ranker decided they were satisfied sufficiently with the draft that staff had prepared for them, and voted to stop discussion, and go ahead with setting a date for a new public hearing on the new draft proposal.

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Clallam County Files Against SJC Motion For Stay

Clallam County has filed an Amicus Curiae ("Friend of the Court") brief in opposition to the motion by the SJ County Council to stay the proceedings on a ruling by the Court of Appeals on allowing guest houses in rural areas. The County Council has asked the Court to not rule on a SJC appeal that was filed by the prior Board of County Commissioners, in which they had asked the court to rule in favor of the county, and against the Growth Management Hearings Board, and the guest house appeal filed by the Friends of the San Juans.

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Council "Holds" short Illegal Meeting?

Councilman Myhr and Lichter admitted at the Tuesday ADU meeting that they had, for a short time, been together, and in conversation with, members of the public outside of a formal advertised meeting.

The matter came up un-expectedly after a break in the hearing on ADU's, when Chairman Lichter announced to the audience that he and Myhr had been observed last Tuesday after the ADU meeting, in conversation with members of the public who had attended the public hearing on ADUs.

Lichter said correspondence had been received from Wanda Evans that she had "witnessed a meeting outside on the deck of the ferry between Councilman Alan Lichter, Councilman Bob Myhr, Vice President of the Friends of the San Juan, Lynn Bahrych, Secretary of the Friends of the San Juans, Roger Collier, and a man that I don't know,,,"
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Guest House Decision Continued to Friday

Approximately 30 people showed up on Tuesday to observe the continued deliberations by the County Council on the ADU ordinance. Having run out of time last Tuesday Previous Story , the CC had continued the meeting to the following Tuesday (May 2), but were still unable to come a decision, and over the objections of Bob Myhr, broke early, and continued the meeting to Friday, May 5.

What the Council had in front of them was the PC (Planning Commission) proposed ordinance that had been submitted to the CC by the PC for their review, but the severe restrictions on ADUs the PC came back with were contrary to what the CC had sent to the PC for their review.

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CC May Decide On Guest Houses

The County Council will continue their deliberations Tuesday, May 2, in the Council Chambers on the proposed ordinance sent to them by the (Planning Commission). Based on past comments, it is expected that all three of the Council members will have suggestions as to how the PC proposal can be improved. Previous Story

Councilman Ranker told The Island Guardian that he planned to bring up the idea of forming an advisory committee to look at the issue. How this would differ from the Planning Commission, which is the County official advisory committee, is not clear, and there are some indications that the other Council members plan to move forward on an ordinance as quickly as possible. Chairman Lichter said he expects the Council to reach resolution at the Tuesday meeting.

The meeting is open to the public, but not to public input.
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Friday, May 5th

CC May Ask Court To Rule On Guesthouses

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(County Council chambers: Public Hearing on Guesthouses)
With every seat taken, and an overflow of citizens from the hallway peering into the Council Chambers, the County Councilmen listened for several hours to a roomful of concerns, criticisms, cautions, complaints, and some constructive council, on how the Council might extricate themselves from the ADU (Accessory Dwelling Unit) morass. Previous Story

Of the estimated seventy members of the public who showed up, 27 addressed the Council-some more than once- to testify against the ordinance; three members of the leadership of the Friends, and one general member -who also serves on the Planning Commission- spoke in favor of the proposed ordinance that would, in effect, ban guest houses outside of high density areas; but would allow duplexes throughout the county, as long as one of the units was 1000 Sq Ft or less.

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