Winlock Mayor Don Bradshaw, left, looks on as Lewis County prosecutor Jonathan Meyer explains to county commissioners what their options are regarding a potentially invalid appointment to the Winlock city council.
Lewis County commissioners confirmed Winlock City Councilor Jodie Curtis’ disputed council seat at the prosecutor’s update Tuesday, despite the city’s assertion it was unnecessary.
For more than a year, the Winlock city councilor has occupied a seat that the Lewis County prosecutor believes was technically vacant. On Tuesday, however, the Lewis County Commission nominated that same councilor to the allegedly vacant seat and approved the position.
“In our office, we believe that the position was not appointed correctly, based upon the statute,” said Lewis County Prosecuting Attorney Jonathan Meyer. “The city of Winlock disagrees.”
On Feb. 12, 2018, the Winlock City Council filled two vacant positions — Barbara Pedersen to Position 2 and Jodie Curtis to Position 3. The council first passed a motion to appoint Pedersen, then passed a motion to appoint Curtis before Pedersen was sworn in. Both councilors were sworn in at the same time.
According to RCW 42.12.070(2), Pedersen should have first been sworn in, then participated in Curtis’ appointment. Meyer argued that this means the seat was technically vacant, and that since it had been vacant for more than 90 days, it fell to the county to appoint a councilor. The city of Winlock, however, argued that the seat had not been vacant since Curtis was appointed, and that no action was required on the part of the county.
“It’s just a difference of opinion, which is I guess mine,” Meyer told commissioners. “So we have a couple options as the county. That is to A: affirm the person that they tried to appoint. If that’s the case, it’s over and done. Or, B: do like the board normally does and that’s where you open up the process, and have interviews, and then appoint somebody — in which case we’ll most likely end up in litigation with the city of Winlock, because they do not believe that there is a vacancy.”
Discussion over the council appointment lasted about 20 minutes.
“That failure of a fourth vote doesn’t render the seat necessarily vacant” said Winlock City Attorney Erin Hillier, with law firm Hillier, Scheibmeir & Kelly. “We went through the whole process of legal analysis and thoroughly informing our own client on the matter.”
Lewis County Commissioner Edna Fund asked if there were multiple people who applied to the city councilor seat. She also asked if city council votes have been close in the last year, and if a different city councilor would have potentially changed the outcome.
Winlock Mayor Don Bradshaw said no, even though both councilor Anne Randt and former councilor Andrew Maloney had voted against the majority of councilors in the past year.
“It may have been a procedural misstep, but does it really render the seat vacant?” Hillier asked commissioners. “... It’s just one of those unique circumstances. Small towns tend to be pioneers in these things, because they’re operating under the same procedural rules that you guys do on a shoestring budget, with the best advice available to them. We have served in municipalities for decades, so I feel confident in the background that our firm has in looking at these issues and how they are customarily approached.”
The Lewis County commission nominated Curtis to Winlock City Council Position 3, then appointed her to the position.
“I just want to say once again that since you had no votes that would have been overturned as a result of a change — that the three votes were unanimous in appointing her in the first place — it looks like it’s an appropriate thing to do to get Winlock back on its way and for us to have this particular situation settled,” Fund said.
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Chronicle reporter Alex Brown contributed to this story.
