REVIEW BAINBRIDGE ISLAND
Friday, December 12, 2014 | Vol. 114, No. 50 | WWW.BAINBRIDGEREVIEW.COM | 75¢
INSIDE: Nutcracker on the way: A10
Ward calls it quits, resigns from council seat City signs off on $487k settlement agreement
Related story inside
BY BRIAN KELLY
Bainbridge council agrees on process to find new Central Ward councilman, A8.
David Ward submitted his resignation letter to the city Wednesday. In it, the former Central Ward councilman made no mention of the public records lawsuit and settlement that forced his departure from the city council. Instead, he cited “health reasons” for quitting his post on the council. It was a rare resignation: City officials could not recall another resignation on the city council in the past 20 years. In the letter, dated Dec. 9, Ward wrote: “Dear Council Members: I need to memorialize my resignation to city council. To this point, it has just been conveyed to you verbally. Effective immediately, I am resigning my position on the council for health reasons. While I have enjoyed serving the citizens of the Island, I need to give my full attention to my recovery.” Ward had told his council col-
and Bonkowski could be searched for missing records, along with the hard drives of their personal computers. The city reached a settlement agreement with Paulson and Fortner early last week after an 11-hour marathon mediation meeting in Seattle. In the agreement, Ward agreed to step down while Bonkowski was spared from having to turn over his computer and email account for further inspection. Before the agreement was signed, Ward also admitted that evidence in the court case had been destroyed. His attorney said the computer that he had been using for his personal email account was owned by his employer, and the laptop had been returned upon his retirement and had since been wiped clean.
Bainbridge Island Review
Brian Kelly | Bainbridge Island Review
David Ward, left, listens to the city attorney during a training session on the state’s Public Records Act during his last meeting as a Bainbridge city councilman on Nov. 18. At right is Councilman Roger Townsend. leauges earlier this year that he would be missing meetings at year’s end due to back surgery. Ward, who was three years into a four-year term, was forced to step down as part of a settlement agreement that ended a public records lawsuit against the city. Bainbridge agreed last week to
pay a settlement totaling $487,790 to Althea Paulson and Bob Fortner, who filed a public records lawsuit against the city last year after the city failed to provide emails that were sent between council members Ward, Councilman Steve Bonkowski and then-councilwoman Debbi Lester that focused on city business.
A Superior Court judge ruled in May that the city did not do an adequate job of searching for the public records that were requested, and the decision included a scathing rebuke of Ward and Bonkowski for deleting emails from their personal email accounts that were public records. The judge also said the personal email accounts of Ward
TURN TO WARD | A7
Bainbridge will bump up staffing at Station 23 with three new firefighters Officials consider levy request to pay for more employees BY BRIAN KELLY
Bainbridge Island Review
Bainbridge fire officials took a first step toward staffing Station 23 around the clock by unanimously voting to give Fire Chief Hank Teran the go-ahead to immediately hire three new firefighters. The Bainbridge Island Fire Department will tap its reserve funds to pay for the firefighters at an expected cost of roughly $300,000. North End residents have been pressing the department to fully staff Station 23, the department’s station on Phelps Road, in recent months. The issue took on added importance last month after a fire destroyed a north end home, and the first units on the scene came
from North Kitsap. At a special meeting Monday called to address staffing issues, fire department officials presented different levy options that would pay for the nine firefighters needed — two each for three shifts — at Station 23. Board members were divided on whether to hire nine new firefighters, or just six and rely on overtime to fill the other three slots needed to staff Station 23 full time. Board Chairman Scott Isenman said he was worried about employee burnout by relying too much on overtime. He also noted that hiring nine new firefighters would give the department a greater pool of emergency responders to call upon during times of crisis. “Bear in mind when the big one hits, you can call in
Brian Kelly | Bainbridge Island Review
Bainbridge Fire Chief Hank Teran discusses options for staffing Station 23 at a special meeting of the fire department’s board of commissioners Monday. bodies but you can’t call in overtime,” Isenman said. Commissioner YongSuk
Cho, however, noted that the department’s south end station also relies on employees
working overtime to cover 24/7 staffing. After the vote to immedi-
ately hire three new firefighters, board members decided to put off a final decision on how many new firefighters to hire overall. But not for long. The board asked for more information on adjusting possible levy rates, with the plan to take action on a resolution later this week, that could result in increased staffing and a continuation of the department’s EMS levy. Board members asked for two resolutions for Thursday’s meeting; one that would call for a 14-cent increase in the levy rate that would raise the levy from the 2015 rate of 86 cents to $1 (per $1,000 of assessed valuation) and pay for nine new firefighters, or one that would raise the rate by 9 cents to 95 cents (per $1,000 of assessed valuation) and pay for six new firefighters TURN TO STATION | A7