Port Angeles pool board chooses candidate in open session

Published 12:01 am Wednesday, November 10, 2010

PORT ANGELES — The William Shore Memorial Pool District commissioners met in an open meeting Tuesday to approve Steve Burke as their “candidate of interest” for the public pool’s executive director post.

Burke, a pool advocate and a member of the pool district’s advisory committee, was chosen by consensus in a closed executive session last week.

The state Attorney General’s Office said that Washington’s Open Public Meetings Act requires that all decisions, whether reached by consensus or a formal vote, be made during an open session.

“I believe that it probably does constitute a technical violation under the Open Meetings Act,” said the district’s attorney Craig Miller.

“Subsequently, I believe it was resolved because the information was made public immediately, so it became a technical violation without prejudice or damage.”

The commissioners announced their choice last week immediately after the closed session.

In open session Tuesday, Commissioner Pat Downie made the motion to allow Chairman Mike Chapman to conduct a background check and begin contract negotiations with Burke, and the motion was seconded by Commissioner Cherie Kidd.

The resolution passed unanimously among the five commissioners, with Commissioner Mike Doherty voting by telephone.

The Peninsula Daily News had questioned whether the commission — made up of two Port Angeles City Council members, two Clallam County commissioners and a representative of the general public — complied with the state Open Public Meetings Act when it reached a decision behind closed doors.

The other two finalists for the director’s position at the pool located at 225 E. Fifth St. in Port Angeles are Anna Manildi, former executive director of the Juan de Fuca Festival of the Arts, and Wendy Burwell, a swim instructor.

Unlike past managers of the pool, the new director will work a part-time schedule, with pay that is about half of the $60,000 its former interim director, Jayna Lafferty, was paid.

Lafferty, a full-time employee, resigned in October after a dispute over work hours with Chapman.

The commissioners were already planning to hire a permanent director in November before the dispute with Lafferty.