Andrew Martin, former chief of Lewis County Fire District 1 in Onalaska, shakes hands with Brian Snure, representing district commissioners Rich Bainbridge and Bill Kassel in a request for a recall initiated by Martin.
Frustration in Onalaska following the recent firing of the Lewis County Fire District 1 chief, resignations among volunteers and the district’s commission and the forced closure of its main station by the state Department of Labor and Industries came to a head last month with the filing of a request to recall remaining commissioners Rich Bainbridge and Bill Kassel.
On Tuesday, attorney Brian Snure told Superior Court Judge Joely O’Rourke his clients might have erred, but that the violations of the Open Public Meetings Act are not a sufficient reason for recall.
“Mr. Kassel and Mr. Bainbridge are good people trying to do a good job,” he said.
He admitted one instance of a violation of the OPMA, in which the commissioners met with no notice to the public.
“It’s a mistake,” he said. “I think the law’s clear. Commissioners are allowed to make mistakes.”
Snure, who called the recall an attempt to “short circuit” the electoral process, asked O’Rourke to dismiss the 11 charges in the recall request with prejudice, meaning they could not be refiled.
O’Rourke heard arguments from both sides Tuesday morning. She said that given the complexity of the case she would release a written ruling Friday on whether the recall will be allowed to proceed to a petition.
Former chief Andrew Martin, who filed the request for a recall in January along with former captain Randy Tobler, presented his request to O’Rourke Tuesday morning, arguing that Bainbridge and Kassel violated laws regarding the state Open Public Meetings Act and regarding evaluations of public employees in executive sessions.
He argued the commissioners had received training on the Open Public Meetings Act, but chose to disregard it on several recent occasions.
“When it’s convenient, they follow it. When it’s not, they don’t,” he said.
He argued that the hiring of interim Chief Adam Myer at a meeting in November, at which the commissioners engaged in no public discussion about Myer or his qualifications, proved meetings had taken place to discuss the hiring in private.
“There should have been discussion,” he said. “They knew who they were going to pick before they walked in the door.”
Former commissioner Jeff Lee earlier told The Chronicle he had the same impression at the meeting. He resigned the next month, citing concerns about the commissioners’ adherence to the OPMA.
Snure said Martin’s arguments were not legally sufficient. Furthermore, he said the commissioners had no intent to violate any laws.
In a conversation with The Chronicle last month, Bainbridge responded to allegations of violations of the OPMA, which requires all meetings regarding official business between a majority of commissioners be posted and open to the public. He denied violating the law.
Some district residents have cited Bainbridge and Kassel’s friendship as a problem, saying it leads them to assume the commissioners discuss business outside of meetings.
“We are friends, we go back a long ways. Our kids went to school together,” Bainbridge earlier told The Chronicle. “We have a lot of common interests too.”
Bainbridge said he and Kassel intended to work with a “mediator” to help them resolve issues without talking business outside meetings. He said it is difficult to conduct a meeting without a chance to come to a consensus.
Bainbridge told The Chronicle that when he needs to tell Kassel something related to district business outside of a meeting, he’ll tell the mediator, who can pass along the message to Kassel. Then the mediator could pass back a reply to Bainbridge.
“I’d really like to hear what somebody else is thinking, it really isn’t a decision … We’re not trying to be secretive about it,” Bainbridge said. “The beauty of it is you can hear what everybody’s thinking is.”
The Open Public Meetings Act expressly prohibits a quorum, or voting majority, of commissioners from coming to a consensus outside of a public meeting.
While it isn’t explicitly written in the OPMA, Washington courts have traditionally ruled that “serial meetings,” or meetings held with the help of a third party or through email, are also prohibited by the act.
Snure said his clients would likely not make further statements on the issue, but said he would release a statement on their behalf after O’Rourke files her ruling.
