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Thursday, January 22, 2015
VOL. 20, NO. 24
Transit considers bus fares By Jessie Stensland Co-Editor
Coupeville Councilman Bob Clay won’t be steering the Island Transit board of directors anymore. Clay gave up his chairmanship at a meeting last Friday in which his fellow board members agreed to move forward quickly with changes at the agency which has been marked by controversy and difficulty over the last year. Staff members came up with a plan to restore some of the service that was lost because of surprise budget problems last year. They will hold a series of community meetings to gather public input beginning Monday, Jan. 26. The new board met last Friday for the first time this year and adopted an ambitious plan that includes a serious look into charging fares on buses and even a discussion about working with another transit agency to take over service on Camano Island. Oak Harbor Councilman Rick Almberg and Island County commissioners Jill Johnson and Rick Hannold sat as new members on the board; they replace Oak Harbor Mayor Scott Dudley and commissioners Helen Price Johnson and Aubrey Vaughan. Coupeville Councilman Clay, the longtime chairman, said his council hadn’t yet decided whom to appoint to the board this year, and there’s a chance someone else will want to serve. Coupeville Town Council was slated to discuss the board appointment during its regular meeting Jan. 13, but councilwoman Molly Hughes was absent due to illness. She asked the item be postponed to the Jan. 27 meeting. Langley Councilman Jim Sundberg has said he hopes to continue on the board. Clay announced that he was stepping down as chairman. He took on the role of director of the agency for months after former director Martha Rose quit last year. “I’ve been board chairman for a long time, and someone else needs to assume the position with all the glory and pay that goes along with it,” he joked. Hannold quickly nominated Almberg as the new chairman. Almberg at first demurred, saying that Sundberg had the “tribal knowledge” to do the job.
See TRANSIT, page 2
Megan Hansen photo
Port of Coupeville Commissioner Marshall Bronson, center, swears in newly-appointed commissioner John Carr, not shown, immediately following the resignation of Bill Larsen, left. Commissioner Mike Diamanti, right, approved both actions.
Port prompts transparency concern Candidate hand-picked by board to fill vacant seat By Megan Hansen Co-Editor
The appointment of a hand-picked commissioner to the Port of Coupeville last week raised questions about whether the public agency conducts business in an open and transparent manner. Two members of the three-person board chose a commissioner without advertising the opening to the public. In addition, port officials may have been conducting business by “polling,” which is when a public official contacts individual members of a board in an improper attempt to make decisions outside of a public meeting. John Carr, a retired real estate agent, was appointed to the board immediately after Commissioner Bill Larsen tendered his resignation. Carr will fill the position until it is up for re-election in November. The manner in which the board came to this decision raises “legitimate” questions, said Nancy Krier, the state’s assistant attorney general for open government. During the December port meeting, Larsen initially submitted his resignation effective Jan. 31, citing personal reasons. No discussion about how to fill the vacancy was conducted
during that meeting. However, Larsen tendered his resignation effective immediately at the following Jan. 14 meeting and Carr was promptly sworn in. Carr said during the meeting he was excited about being approached and was ready to serve. Commissioner Marshall Bronson said the board members chose someone they felt had qualities that were beneficial, specifically citing Carr’s real estate background as an advantage for ongoing negotiations with the Greenbank Farm Management Group contract. While state law may not require the board to publicly advertise an open position, the port has done so in the past. After the December meeting, Commissioner Mike Diamanti researched past protocol when Laura Blankenship resigned from
her seat in April 2013. Diamanti advised new Executive Director David Day in an email obtained in a records request that past protocol entailed advertising a request for applications and suggested candidates would be interviewed during the February meeting. Instead, the board chose not to advertise the opening or even open it to the public. Bronson said he felt the board had a specific desire for certain expertise and also felt the position needed to be filled as soon as possible. “The public doesn’t have to do it each time,” Bronson said. Per state law, once a position is vacated, the board has 90 days to appoint a qualified person to fill the seat.
See TRANSPARENCY, page 7