PPF June 21, 2016 Letter to P.A. City Council—Re: Vote on City Government

Kari Martinez-Bailey
Administrative Assistant
City Manager’s Office
321 East Fifth Street
PO Box 1150
Port Angeles, WA 98362
www.cityofpa.us
Phone 360-417-4500
Fax 360-417-4509

To: Port Angeles City Council June 21, 2016
From: Eloise Kailin, M.D., Corresponding Secretary for Protect the Peninsula’s Future,,
P.O.Box 1677, Sequim, WA 98382

There is discord in the City of Port Angeles between the Council and the majority of City rate-payers and voters. PPF requests that the Council take action to heal the City. We ask that the Council give necessary respect to City voters and schedule an expedited vote in November 2016 on the change in government petition. The voters have a statutory right to make a decision on the form of City government and, under the circumstances, the Council should facilitate a decision by the voters on this matter.

If the Council wants to keep the current form of government, the Council must demonstrate that it can show respect for majority-rule by rate-payers and voters. We encourage the Council to take a major step in showing respect to the rate-payers by ending the fluoridation program as the majority of rate-payers requested in last December’s poll. We ask the Council to implement Option 5 proposed by Dan McKeen and all other City Department heads to end fluoridation and implement an alternative oral health program. Today, the alternative should be that recommended by the Ad Hoc Committee (with no burden on ratepayers). By ending fluoridation and implementing the Ad Hoc Committee’s recommendation, the Council will show respect to the rate-payers. By holding an election on the change in government petition in November 2016, the Council will show respect to the voters. If the Council shows the necessary respect for the rate-payers and voters, the voters may decide that no change in government is necessary to heal the City.

I would like to briefly address the power of local initiative, referendum, and petition. These are legal methods in the City of Port Angeles for voters to make decisions. The Council should embrace these methods. They are the methods of a true democracy. Historically, only two initiatives have qualified for the ballot in the City of Port Angeles. Rather than holding an election on these initiatives, a prior Council chose to oppose the initiatives in Court. The initiatives would have put limitations on adding medicines to public water supplies serving the City.

The current Council would not have to heal the City now if the prior Council had allowed these initiatives to go to the voters. Any action by the current Council to take the current petition to Court will further damage the relationship between the Council and the voters. Therefore PPF encourages the Council to schedule an expedited vote on the petition in a November, 2016 election and avoid further damage to the City.