While Position 5 on the Morton City Council is still vacant following the resignation of Caro Johnson last month, the remaining councilors voted to pass on appointing a new councilor to the vacancy during their regular monthly meeting on Monday, Sept. 22, as candidates are already running for the position in the upcoming November election.
Additionally, the council approved ordinance 2026-06, which amends city code to declare living in an RV within city limits, including on private property, as a public nuisance and a misdemeanor punishable by up to a $1,000 fine or up to 364 days in jail upon the third violation.
The Morton City Council also approved the final pay estimate to Gibbs & Olson Inc. of Longview for cleanup services, including sweeping and rolling recently carried out on the streets of Morton as residents continue to deal with the effects of last year’s failed Otta Seal on the roads.
No new councilor appointed
Despite three applicants submitting letters of interest to the City of Morton for the vacant council position, according to Morton City Councilor Jason Sawyer, the council still ended up unanimously voting to pass up on appointing one of those applicants to the vacancy Johnson left behind.
Johnson was originally elected to Position 5 in 2021. In the upcoming election, scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 4, Morton residents Jason Knutson and John VanBlaricom are running for position 5.
“I saw an email at some point in time, somebody was concerned about fairness — as to whether or not we may have been giving an opportunity to somebody who may or may not have been running,” Morton City Councilor Richard Vanderlip said.
Additionally, if the council had chosen to appoint a new councilor to the position on Monday, that appointee would only have served out the remainder of Johnson’s term, which concludes at the end of this year.
“I do think that it probably just makes sense to wait for the election,” Vanderlip added.
Sawyer still wanted to at least consider the applicants, though he understood the reasoning for passing on making an appointment as well.
He stressed the decision leaves the council with only four voting members currently, meaning future motions could end up deadlocked in tie votes.
Living in an RV prohibited
As for the ordinance concerning living in RVs being declared a public nuisance, city code needed to be amended to include people living in RVs off-street on private property, according to Morton City Attorney Jim Buzzard.
Sawyer questioned whether amending the code would only exacerbate the growing problem of homelessness, as he worried fining people for living in RVs would put them in deeper financial straits fast-tracking them to homelessness.
Upon the first offence, the maximum penalty is a $125 fine, with a $250 fine being levied on the second offense if they don’t move within 90 days of the first violation. Upon the third violation within 90 days, the person living in an RV can be charged with a misdemeanor punishable by up to a $1,000 fine or up to 364 days in jail.
According to Buzzard, the original code has already been on the books since 1998.
“There’s also the element of treat everybody equally. It doesn’t matter who you are, everybody is subject to the same rules. Whether you’re homeless or a billionaire, you still can’t live in your RV because it’s not in accordance with the city’s zoning rules,” Buzzard said. “Don’t do it. Ignorance is no excuse for violating the law.”
Buzzard added he expected the Morton Police Department to give warning first to inform people of the city zoning rules before issuing fines. The ordinance was approved unanimously.
Pay estimate and road issues
Following months of dealing with last year’s failed Otta Seal, which resulted in months of Morton’s roads shedding rock and dust, the council, albeit a bit reluctantly, approved the final payment to Gibbs & Olson Inc.
The Otta Seal was a Washington state Transportation Improvement Board (TIB) project, and TIB funds were originally used to carry out the work.
“As a city and as a council, we are not happy with the final product,” Sawyer said.
While some discussion was held on the possibility of not making payments due to the poor quality of the road work, both Morton Mayor Rick Mead and Councilor Travis Cooper cautioned that doing so could affect whether or not the city gets future TIB grants for other projects.
Mead added that TIB officials also told him that Morton was one of four communities where the TIB tested out this type of road sealing process.
“I wasn’t here for the signing and the approachment of the (original) grant, but this was an experiment. This wasn’t something where they said positively, ‘You’re going to have the beautifulest roads in Lewis County.’ They said they were going to use four different areas to do this experiment to see if this works,” Mead said. “Obviously, it did not.”
Otta Seal is an asphalt surface treatment constructed by placing a graded rock aggregate on top of a thick application of a relatively soft binding agent oil. Some consider it a cost-effective alternative to traditional chip sealing, and it is named after the Otta Valley in Norway where it was originally developed in the 1960s.
He added the same type of sealing was carried out in the community of Oakville.
“I was in Oakville just yesterday, and there’s still standing rock on their roads,” Mead added.
The final pay estimate was for a total of $70,696.60, bringing the overall total paid to Gibbs & Olson for the cleanup to $710,108.20.
According to Mead, the TIB has told him the City of Morton will be on the top of their priority list for future road work grants. He added the apparent reason for the Otta Seal’s failure was the rock which was originally used was not clean enough.
Reluctantly, the council motioned to approve the final pay estimate, and it was approved by a vote of 3-1 with Sawyer opposing.
“I know we don’t have a choice, but I’m gonna be the voice of dissension,” Sawyer said.
