INSIDE: Under pressure ... Sports, A7
Record South Whidbey
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2012 | Vol. 88, No. 100 | www.SOUTHWHIDBEYRECORD.com | 75¢
Langley Mayor Kwarsick faces criminal charge Arraignment set for Monday BY JESSIE STENSLAND Staff reporter The mayor of Langley has been charged with a crime that may spell the end of his career in politics. Island County Prosecutor Greg Banks filed one count of “false report by a public officer” against Mayor Larry Kwarsick in Island County Superior Court on Thursday. Kwarsick allegedly broke the law when he was serving as director of community planning in Langley last year. He’s accused of backdating a document to make it appear that it was written by a predecessor. The Notice of Decision improperly eliminated permit requirements on his stepdaughter’s home construction project, according to court documents. Kwarsick is accused of knowingly making “a false or misleading statement in any official report or statement,” under the definition of the charge. If convicted, Kwarsick would have to forfeit his office and would be permanently disqualified from holding public office in the state, according to court documents. The charge is a gross misdemeanor and punishable with up to 364 days in jail and a $5,000 fine. Kwarsick, 65, is scheduled to appear in court for arraignment Monday. Banks said he expects the case will be resolved at that time, though he wouldn’t disclose the terms of the potential settlement. Langley Councilman Hal Seligson, the mayor pro tem, said the council will hold a special meeting Tuesday to discuss how to move forward. He said he plans to ask the city attorney to explain the process of replacing
Justin Burnett / Record file
Larry Kwarsick, the mayor of Langley since November 2011 when he ran unopposed for the office, is facing a criminal charge of a false report by a public official. the mayor, in case it becomes necessary. “We will have to confront a very difficult
Board approves two school levy proposals BY BEN WATANABE Staff reporter LANGLEY — Money, buildings and student well-being were emotional topics ahead of the South Whidbey School District’s approval of two levies. Parents, teachers, the superintendent and the school board argued over the essence of school funding. They circled and finally hit the issue at hand — what to do with Langley Middle School — and the answer was to keep it as it is, at its own facility, separate from the elementary and high schools and the rest of the district’s operations on Maxwelton Road. The school board unanimously approved the capital/technology levy and maintenance and operations levy Wednesday night. Heading into the business meeting the only obstacle to a
time, but I’m confident we are going to pull through as a community and do the right
5-0 vote in favor was Board Member Jill Engstrom, who objected to the capital/technology levy because the district had not addressed what the funds were planned for, to her liking. “Due to the presentation by Dan (Poolman, assistant superintendent), I’m supportive of it,” Engstrom said. “It makes more sense to me now.” The capital levy figures to bring in $1.2 million annually for the next six years. Poolman gave an approximate levy rate of $50 per $100,000 of assessed property value, but the rate is a moving target as the district will ask, by state law, for the fixed amount of $1.2 million. The rate will vary with property values. A seven-page document was prepared by the district’s administration and presented to the board and the public at the meeting. It laid out maintenance plans for each of the district’s facilities on a six-year timetable. The more urgent the repair or upgrade, the earlier in the levy funding it would be addressed.
Langley Middle School most needy Langley Middle School had the most items at 21. South
thing,” Seligson said. Kwarsick is well-known throughout Whidbey Island. He previously worked as the Island County public works director and the planning director. He is currently under contract as the planning director in Coupeville and was also the contracted planning director in Langley before running unopposed for mayor last year. He runs a land-use consulting firm called Sound Planning Services. The Island County Prosecutor’s Office started looking into the case after current Langley Planning Director Jeff Arango discovered the paperwork irregularity because of a public information request from South Whidbey blogger Skip Demuth. Arango made a whistleblower’s complaint to the Langley City Council. The council, in turn, asked the prosecutor to look into the matter. Banks said he convened a Special Inquiry Judge, but he didn’t end up taking testimony in the secretive procedure designed to protect witnesses. He said the city employees were willing to speak with Detective Ed Wallace with the Island County Sheriff’s Office, so it wasn’t necessary. The special inquiry judge did, however, issue subpoenas for documents and computers at Langley City Hall, as well as Kwarsick’s computer at his Langley home. The case surrounds a property on Minnie Lane that is largely wetland. In 2006 — before he became planning director — Kwarsick was acting as the agent for his stepdaughter, Emmy Atwood, and her husband in obtaining development permits for construction of a home in the sensitive area. As part of the permitting process, the city approved a Wetland Mitigation Plan that Kwarsick submitted. It required a 10-year monitoring plan, annual reports for nine See Mayor, A13
Whidbey High School had 15; the elementary school had 12; the transportation/district office had nine; and the primary school campus where Whidbey Island Academy is housed had five items. As long as the list was, some board members were convinced it would not be enough.
“I feel like you’re gambling. You’re taking a chance. It’s lives, it’s injuries.” Molly MacLeod-Roberts, South Whidbey parent
“If we need to do structural upgrades, then we can,” said Superintendent Jo Moccia. “If we need to do something different, then we will look at that.” One parent and frequent objector to keeping students in Langley Middle School disagreed with the district’s plan to See School levies, A13