NEWS-TIMES WHIDBEY
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2011 | Vol. 120, No. 97 | WWW.WHIDBEYNEWSTIMES.COM | 75¢
“The Nutcracker” dances into Oak Harbor...PG 12
Hiring, firing freeze aimed at new mayor By JUSTIN BURNETT Staff reporter
Oak Harbor Mayor-elect Scott Dudley is still nearly a month away from taking office yet some of his biggest critics on the city council may be trying to subvert, or at least delay, some of his plans. In a surprise move that caused more than a few jaws to drop at a special meeting Monday, City Councilman Rick Almberg made a lastminute motion to discuss a six-month freeze on the hiring and firing of city employees for budgetary and oper-
ational reasons at the first meeting in December --- a meeting Dudley will not be in town to attend. The motion was immediately seconded by City Councilwoman Beth Munns and carried without discussion. Requests to have something placed on an agenda do not require a vote, only a second. Dudley, who is a sitting city councilman, said in a later interview that he has serious questions about the legality of any action that might limit his ability to fire personnel. However, he said the last
thing he wants to do is foster an adversarial relationship in which “the city council wants to handcuff the mayor.” While he is prepared to abide by any decision, Dudley is not planning to abandon his plans to take a hard look at each department and determine what, if any, changes need to be made. “In the worst case scenario, that would give me six months to make a good decision,” Dudley said. While leaving Monday’s meeting, Dudley said Almberg’s motion came as a complete surprise, but he
believed it was no coincidence that the issue was proposed for discussion on Dec. 6, a night he would be away on family business. “They knew I would be away on an excused absence,” Dudley said. But, while he won’t be at the meeting to defend himself or any actions he has yet to make, a host of supporters plan to be there in his stead. Many were more than put off by the unexpected motion, seeing it as the action of a sore loser who
“In the worst case scenario, that would give me six months to make a good decision.” -- Scott Dudley, mayor-elect
Scott Dudley SEE MAYOR, A4
Tides raise concern about Ala Spit project By JUSTIN BURNETT Staff reporter
Justin Burnett / Whidbey News-Times
Penny Andrukat and Brian Shelly walk along a section of Ala Spit that was recently battered by waves during a high tide. They, and many other residents, worry that more sediment will be washed away and public access will be lost as the result of recent restoration work.
A restoration project at Ala Spit is once again making waves with concerned North Whidbey residents. Besieged with high tides and blustery winter conditions, a section of the spit the county spent nearly a month removing rip-rap from this past fall began to give way Wednesday, Nov. 23, when large amounts of newly placed sediment began washing into the adjacent estuary. Brian Shelly, a park regular and Sleeper Road resident, was present when seawater began to carve paths through the spit and eventually spill over the top, carrying with it what he described as about two-thirds of the driftwood that was strategically placed along the beach as natural armoring.
“It was ridiculous and awesome both at the same time,” Shelly said. But while many in the community, such as Shelly, are now shaking their heads and have come down with a case of the “I told you sos,” Island County Public Health officials and members of the department’s hired environmental consulting firm are breathing a sigh of relief as the project is unfolding just like it was supposed to. “Everything going on out SEE ALA SPIT, A2
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