News-Times Whidbey
New liquor law is in effect. A7
SATURDAY, JUNE 2, 2012 | Vol. 113, No. 44| www.whidbeynewstimes.com | 75¢
More turmoil at City Hall By JESSIE STENSLAND Staff reporter
Oak Harbor Mayor Scott Dudley returned to work this week after donating a kidney and promptly fired the city attorney. Meanwhile, other changes are coming soon to city leadership. The mayor didn’t return calls for comment Friday, but he sent out a notice to employees and council members that simply states Hawkins is no longer serving as the city attorney as of June 1. “For the interim, we are exploring contracting out our need for
legal services,” Dudley wrote. “I anticipate having more information shortly.” In an interview Friday afternoon, Hawkins said the mayor told him he “just wanted to move in a different direction” when he handed him his termination papers Thursday. Hawkins said it’s a city attorney’s job to give correct legal advice, even when it’s not welcome. “If this mayor wants to fire me because I did my job, I will wear that proudly as a badge of honor,” he said. City Councilman Jim Campbell
and other city officials contacted Friday said they were in the dark as to the reason for the termination. “It’s going to cause us a lot of grief,” Campbell said. Dudley appointed Hawkins, who was formerly the assistant city attorney, shortly after coming into office in January and firing then-City Attorney Margery Hite. Dudley also fired the city administrator and the fire chief; he is forcing Police Chief Rick Wallace to retire at the end of June. See city hall, A7
News Times file photo
Oak Harbor City Attorney Bill Hawkin is out as changes continue at City Hall under the reign of Mayor Scott Dudley.
Costs rise as boat rests on bottom By JUSTIN BURNETT Staff reporter
Justin Burnett / Whidbey News-Times
The first of two cranes that are expected to raise a 128-foot sunken crab boat in Penn Cove sits within a floating fuel containment boom over the vessel. The second crane is expected this weekend.
To date, state and federal agencies managing the sunken crab boat in Penn Cove have shelled out nearly $1.5 million and the cost continues to rise as the boat continues to sit on the sea floor. At the end of the day, the entire event could total more than $2.24 million, according to figures provided by officials with all the various government agencies working on the incident. The Deep Sea, a 340-ton crab boat, had been illegally anchored just outside the mussel rafts in Coupeville for months when the vessel caught fire and then sank May 13. Over the past three weeks, the U.S. Coast Guard, and the state departments of Ecology, Natural Resources and Health have been working collaboratively to contain diesel fuel and oil leaking from the vessel and prepare the stricken ship for removal. This week, the state Department of Ecology announced that the operation to raise and then dispose of the old boat could begin Sunday, June 3, though that is really the
best case scenario, said Richard Walker, the agency’s on-scene coordinator. It’s very possible the raising will occur Monday, he said. Earlier, it was thought it could begin as soon as May 30. Divers from Global Diving and Salvage have been working for more than a week to prepare the vessel, but they have run into “very significant problems” that have put them behind schedule. The biggest problem continues to be Penn Cove’s silty bottom. It’s so soft that the piles used to anchor a barge and crane in place were unable to hit a hard bottom, he said. “They just kept going and going,” Walker said. All that silt, along with heavy debris from the boat, makes tunneling under the vessel to secure lifting chains very time consuming. However, the divers are making progress and Walker is hoping the vessel will be gone soon.
the Department of Ecology, said the state’s estimated cost through completion will tally about $1.57 million. The incident has also been expensive for the Coast Guard. Officials with the incident management division at Sector Puget Sound in Seattle confirmed the agency spent about $225,000 on the diving company and environmental containment firm it hired immediately after the sinking. The diving company is no longer involved, but environmental firm National Response Corporation continues to work to contain the oil sheen. The Coast Guard is picking up the tab with money from the federal Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund, a special pot of money accrued from a tax on oil imports. Indirect costs, such as keeping a See boat, A4
Rising costs All this effort is coming with a price, however. By Thursday, the state’s costs totaled $800,000. Larry Altose, a spokesman for
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