RECORD SOUTH WHIDBEY
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2011 | Vol. 87, No. 98 | WWW.SOUTHWHIDBEYRECORD.COM | 75¢
First sight of Santa
INSIDE: Now read this, Island Life, A10
Langley balks on new contract for city attorney BY BRIAN KELLY South Whidbey Record
LANGLEY — City officials have decided to look further afield for potential legal advice in light of new revelations over the work performance of City Attorney Grant Weed. The city council had been poised to approve a one-year contract extension for Weed’s law firm, Weed, Graafstra & Benson, Inc., at the council meeting Monday. Instead, the proposed contract was pulled from the agenda at the last minute, and Langley officials announced they would conduct a broad-based search for attorneys who could serve the city. Larry Kwarsick, who will take over as mayor in January, said the city will conduct an outreach process similar to what was used to hire a hearing examiner for Langley. In that case, the city advertised for potential consultants, conducted a staff review of the five applicants and a selection committee comprised of city officials reviewed proposals before a contract was presented to the council for approval. “I would envision that we would do exactly the same this time,” Kwarsick said. “And I would expect that we would get equally good responses for
legal services.” The new approach followed a story in Saturday’s edition of the Record that detailed how Weed’s law firm had failed to review more than a dozen ordinances that the city council had passed into law under the assumption the legislation had undergone a prior legal review. Documents obtained by the newspaper, however, showed that Weed had failed to review at least 15 ordinances and other documents sent to him by city officials for review. The lack of review was discovered in May 2009 after Langley’s attorneys had made an emergency quick fix to a controversial ordinance that increased the mayor’s salary to one of the highest in Washington state. Weed later signed off on the batch of ordinances all at once, according to city billing records, and admitted his lack of review on the legislation, some of which he said contained legal flaws. It’s not known if all of the flaws in the legislation have been corrected. Weed has not returned repeated requests by the Record for comment. Weed has been the city attorney since 2008, and his tenure has been marked by harsh assessments of his SEE ATTORNEY, A3
City misses deadline on mayor’s pay Nashton Allen, 19 months, watches in awe from the shoulders of Jason Allen as Santa makes his way past on First Street during Langley’s holiday parade on Saturday. The annual parade attracted one of its biggest crowds in years, and hundreds gathered along downtown streets for the big kickoff to the holiday. At right, Santa (aka Jon Gabelein) waves to holiday shoppers along Second Street. Brian Kelly / The Record
BY BRIAN KELLY South Whidbey Record
LANGLEY — Timing is everything. And in this case, it’s bad. Langley Mayor-Elect Larry Kwarsick said the city council’s recent attempt to lower his salary to $30,000 — a move that Kwarsick himself suggested — had come too late. The council gave its initial approval to a new compensation package for the mayor Nov. 21, and unanimously agreed to cut the mayor’s annual salary from $53,000 to $30,000. Council members were expected to take a final vote on the new mayor’s pay at the council meeting Monday, but
were told it would have no impact on Kwarsick’s salary. The council approved the change anyway, but it will not take effect until January 2016. Council members said the $30,000 was a good baseline that could be changed in the future if the council decided a future mayor would need more money to make ends meet. They were also eager to bring the long-running discussion on the mayor’s pay to an end. “Lay that baby to rest,” Councilwoman Rene Neff said after the council voted to 4-0 to approve the SEE PAY, A20