Commissioner appointment questioned

By Meg Olson

Point Roberts water district commissioners Lorne Nielson and Madeleine Anderson have chosen local garbage man Arthur Wilkowski to replace Tom Prescott on the board, but the appointment is being challenged because the decision appears to have been made behind closed doors.

John Lesow, a regular critic of how local agencies operate, lodged a request with the district February 24 for Wilkowski’s appointment to be set aside because “the announcement of a decision made in private violates the intent and spirit of the Open Public Meetings Act.”

At the February 12 water district meeting Anderson and Nielson spent eight minutes in executive session reviewing the qualifications of three candidates to fill the spot on the board left vacant after Prescott resigned last November. Back in open session Anderson announced Wilkowski’s appointment until the next general election, when he will have to run to retain the seat. “Thanks to everyone who applied,” she said. “It’s difficult making a decision when you have difficult choices.” Bill Meursing and Tom Hollett were the other candidates.

Lesow’s complaint is that the commissioners did not make a formal motion to appoint Wilkowski and vote on the appointment. In that he has the concurrence of chief civil deputy prosecutor Randy Watts, whom he asked to review the matter. “Clearly the vote to appoint the replacement must be taken in public. The announcement is not sufficient,” he wrote to Lesow February 21. However, Watts said that did not nullify the appointment, but only made commissioners personally liable if they knew they were acting in violation of the law.

The state Open Meetings Act allows commissioners to go into executive session “to evaluate the qualifications of an applicant for appointment to elective office.” However, “final action appointing a candidate to elective office shall be in a meeting open to the public.” State law setting rules for filling vacancies does not specify that a formal motion or vote is required, rather than commissioner consensus.

Other business at the February 24 meeting included discussion of the potential purchase of the Julius fire station, system improvements, and the forthcoming sewer plan. No final action was taken.

Things heated up at the close of the meeting in what appeared to be a clash of contractors. Hank Peltier submitted a letter to commissioners complaining that Craig Carter had been given permission by district management to unload his septic pumping truck into the Point Roberts marina sewer system after his permission to discharge in Canada was withdrawn. “Private enterprise should not be benefiting from a public system,” Peltier said. He also complained that Carter’s backhoe was used to fix the system pump after it jammed.

District manager Dan Bourks said Carter had asked to dump into the marina system after having his permission to dump in Canada suspended pending a March 28 review. Carter helped fix the pump at no cost after it jammed and would pump the system out during the summer. He added Carter’s business could be beneficial to the community in providing a locally based alternative to septic pumping and portable toilet companies coming from Canada or Bellingham. “I thought it would work out well for everybody” he said. He also said other companies had been allowed to do the same in emergency situations.

It became obvious the issue went deeper than appropriate use of a public utility, when Peltier’s son Jeff began asking if Carter and his associate Brian Calder would like to “take it outside.” They declined the invitation, with Carter adding “That’s your answer to everything, to fight.”

Neilson said commissioners would respond in writing to Peltier’s complaint after researching whether the actions taken had been appropriate. “It sounds like it was an emergency situation and there has been a precedent set,” Anderson said.

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