Lewis County Prosecutor Flags Napavine Council for ‘Illegal’ Actions

The Board of Lewis County Commissioners is being called upon to correct a tangled municipal web of recent Napavine City Council appointments and procedures that county prosecutor Jonathan Meyer describes as “illegal.”

At a meeting in the office of the county commissioners at the Lewis County Courthouse in Chehalis on Tuesday, Meyer explained to a crowd of about 20 people that the city of Napavine has been operating illegally on a number of issues for almost a year. 

Meyer noted that the compliance issues seem to be far reaching, including the simple matter of scheduling official city council meetings.

Currently, the city of Napavine holds just one city council meeting, on the third Tuesday of each month. However, the city’s bylaws dictate that two meetings must be held on the second and fourth Tuesdays of the month.

According to Meyer, that incongruence was secondary to the fact that the city council has been operating with illegally-appointed council members for the better part of the last year. Those appointments have in turn cast doubt over many of the actions taken by the council since the first council member was appointed through inappropriate means last year.

According to Meyer, law dictates that once a council position comes open, the city has 90 days to fill the position with a qualified applicant. After that 90-day period, the city loses its authority to appoint its own councilors, and that authority is transposed to the county. After another 90 days, if no council members have been appointed, the state government can get involved to help facilitate the process; however, according to Meyer’s interpretation, the county still retains its right to choose replacement councilors so long as there are qualified applicants.

Current councilors Bob Wheeler and Craig Sullivan were both appointed by the city after that 90-day period had elapsed. Additionally, Armondo Galaviz, who resigned in December, was also appointed illegally after the 90-day window.

According to Meyer, since June 28 the city of Napavine has been operating with just one legal councilor, Jenifer Slemp, who was elected, in addition to Mayor John Sayers who was also elected. That dearth of council members means that Napavine has been without the official quorum required to make binding decisions. Meyer chose not to address any of the myriad implications related to the improper governance conducted by an illegally assembled city council, noting that those issues fall outside of his direct sphere of responsibility.

“Quite honestly, that doesn’t concern me,” said Meyers.

Instead, his focus was on educating the Board of County Commissioners about their responsibilities in regard to the matter.

Meyer noted that he sees four options for fixing the situation going forward. The first option was to do nothing, which he dubbed a “bad plan.” The second option is to have the Board of County Commissioners work with the city of Napavine to pick replacement councilors, although Meyer noted that Napavine has previously requested that the county not assist with their internal affairs. The third, and most likely, option noted by Meyer is for the Board of County Commissioners to work without the input of the city of Napavine in order to place qualified candidates on the council. The final option presented, which Meyer qualified as a lengthy process, is to appeal to Gov. Jay Inslee to help with the appointment process.

Because the city council position formerly filled by LaVerne Haslett was not vacated until Dec. 20, the city still holds the power to appoint its own choice to the council until a full 90 days have passed. 

Going forward it seems likely the situation will be resolved with the help of the county commissioners. The Board of County Commissioners began soliciting applications for the three open positions that the city lost the privilege to fill on Wednesday, and new council members are expected to be appointed by the commissioners during a special meeting on Feb. 28 at Napavine City Hall.

Before new council members can be appointed though, council members Sullivan and Wheeler will need to formally vacate their seats on the council. Meyer noted that Sullivan and Wheeler can either resign their seats voluntarily or he can file legal paperwork that would compel a court of law to remove them.

Meyer noted his office has received an email from the city of Napavine asking that the Board of County Commissioners reappoint Sullivan and Wheeler to their positions once they have formally resigned. That was an option at least one commissioner was not entirely comfortable with.

“If they were appointed illegally, isn’t that fruit from a poisoned tree if we follow through with that request?” asked Commissioner Bobby Jackson.

Commissioner Edna Fund recalled a similar situation that transpired in Morton some years ago. She noted that in that instance, the Board of County Commissioners solicited applications from qualified residents and then conducted open interviews before making its selection. She suggested that the board would be wise to stick with that protocol for consistency’s sake. Both commissioners Gary Stamper and Bobby Jackson agreed.

“I want to do it as thoroughly as possible and as expedient as possible,” said Stamper.

One way or the other, Meyer hopes that the county commissioners can help to set things straight on the Napavine City Council.

“My office is advising that you (Board of County Commissioners) need to help them get back to full strength and then they can deal with the fallout,” said Meyer.

Napavine Mayor John Sayers says he was caught off guard by the news that his municipality had been operating with an illegal council. He noted that he was especially surprised by the issue with Galaviz’s appointment, noting that he had asked city staff to check with the county for approval before going ahead with the appointment.

“I don’t know. The communication kind of broke down. That’s what happened there,” said Sayers.

Sayers added he plans on cooperating with the county’s efforts and expects that Wheeler and Sullivan will submit their letters of resignation at the regularly scheduled city council meeting on Feb. 21.

However, the mayor also expressed concern about which candidates might wind up appointed to the Napavine Council. In particular, he fears that county commissioners have been subjected to what he considers to be biased input from interested parties from the greater Napavine community.

“I guess the county commissioners will come in and do their thing,” said Sayers, “Apparently they, the Grahams and the Hamiltons and the Hasletts, have their idea of who they want in there to shift the power of the council. They have four names of people they want in the positions. Of course they want to get rid of Bob Wheeler and Steve Ashley. Those are the top two targets right now.”

Sayers added that the one position still open for appointment by the city may be filled as early as Feb. 21. Meyer noted that Mayor Sayers and councilor Slemp would be eligible to vote on that position. That open council seat has at least three applications already on file. Two of those applicants, Shawn O’Neill and Sandy Wiediger, interviewed during January’s city council meeting while the third applicant, Larry Stafford, neglected to attend the meeting. A final decision was put on hold during that council meeting until a time when Stafford could attend.

Once that position is filled, there will still be three council positions open for the county commissioners to appoint and Sayers expects that the two applicants who are not chosen on Feb. 21, in addition to Wheeler and Sullivan, will be added to the mix of applicants under consideration by the County Commissioners.

Sayers added that once the council positions are sorted out, a new vote will likely need to be held in regard to the 2017 city operating budget. That budget was approved during a special meeting on Dec. 27 after Bob Wheeler was inappropriately appointed to the council in order to reach the required quorum. That action is one of many taken in the past year by the council that will likely be subject to review. 

“The city attorney will have to look into that,” said Sayers.

Jim Haslett, a former member of the Napavine city government and husband to former council member LaVerne Haslett, submitted a letter of interest for one of the open council positions during Tuesday’s meeting and voiced his clear opinion on the status of the city’s 2017 operating budget.

“To me that seems like it’s very serious because anything that was voted on by the city council should not be law in the city of Napavine,” said Haslett.

For his part, Sayers is hoping to move past the issues that have mired the city in turmoil for the past few months. He’s not entirely certain that will happen though.

“We need to get over this hurdle and get going because we’ve got the city to worry about,” said Sayers. “I think on the 28th that will be the final realm of getting things done. But hopefully the commissioners will make the right decision and not to hurt the city, and I hope we don’t get anybody with an agenda or baggage with them because that hurts the city down the road. I’ve seen it. I’ve been there. And some of the ones who want to get in there are the ones I’m talking about. They’ve got an ax to grind.”

Residents of Napavine who are interested in applying for the open city council positions can begin the process in person at the Lewis County Commissioners Office at the Courthouse in Chehalis, or by mail at 351 NW North St., Chehalis, or by email at BOCC@LewisCountywa.gov. Applications must be received by 4:30 p.m. on Feb. 24. 

The Board of County Commissioners will interview all qualifying applicants beginning at 4 p.m. on Feb. 28 at Napavine City hall, located at 407 Birch Ave. SW, in Napavine.