PORT ANGELES — Two of three Clallam County commissioners have approved the purchase of a waterfront parcel in Clallam Bay as part of a negotiated settlement to a 2014 lawsuit.
Commissioners Mark Ozias and Bill Peach voted Tuesday to purchase the one-third-acre property at 120 Salt Air St., for $300,000 plus closing costs.
Commissioner Mike Chapman voted no, citing public process concerns.
The land purchase agreement with David and Krisanne Cebelak is one step in a proposed resolution to Lange, et al. v Clallam County, a lawsuit filed in Kitsap County Superior Court by Scott and Elizabeth Lange.
“The plaintiffs need the assurance that we will acquire this particular parcel of property,” Brian Wendt, civil deputy prosecuting attorney, told commissioners Tuesday.
“That acquisition must happen within 60 days of our mediation that occurred on May 16,” he said.
“And that acquisition is only final after closing,” Wendt said.
The deadline for the county to acquire the property is July 15.
The land is slated to become a county park with public access to the marine shoreline.
Commissioners have discussed the proposed settlement in a series of closed-door executive sessions.
A public hearing on a $550,000 debatable budget emergency to settle the Public Records Act lawsuit is scheduled for next Tuesday.
After mulling the land purchase in an open work session Monday, commissioners agreed to delay their vote to encourage public participation and foster greater transparency.
The land purchase was put back on Tuesday’s agenda after the plaintiffs indicated they would not extend the July 15 deadline.
“I think it is important that we live up to our end of the agreement,” Ozias said.
Peach’s motion to approve the land purchase was contingent on the posting of the terms of the draft settlement to the county’s website, www.clallam.net.
“We’re going to get hit if we do, and we’re going to get hit if we don’t,” Peach said of the vote to purchase the land.
“At the end of the day, we’re paid to make decisions like this. I fully accept that responsibility.”
Prosecuting Attorney Mark Nichols said the facts and circumstances surrounding the lawsuit cannot be conveyed in sound bites.
“This is a case involving history that goes back to the late 1990s,” Nichols said.
Ozias said the lawsuit is “not the only issue that is being resolved or that would be resolved as a result of this mediated settlement.”
“And in fact, I think it would be accurate to say that it’s perhaps not even the main issue,” Ozias said.
“What we are talking about here is a systemic failure. There are a number of individuals, well-intentioned over the course of time, that have made decisions that have led us to be where we are now.”
The lawsuit itself was filed against Clallam County, the Department of Community Development and the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.
First-term DCD Director Mary Ellen Winborn said she “inherited 17 years of tremendous email, all kinds of ‘He said, she said, everybody said.’ ”
Wendt told commissioners that the case was “born out of a concern with how certain parcels of land had been developed” on the county’s West End.
“What happened in the late 1990s was that there were some permitting decisions that were made and the plaintiffs in this case took issue with some of those decisions, and they really related to the permitting of certain structures on a parcel of property,” Wendt said in Monday’s work session.
The issue “came to a head” in the mid-2000s when a storm damaged waterfront structures and eroded shoreline adjacent to the plaintiff’s property, Wendt said.
The plaintiffs “wanted to exercise their rights under the Public Records Act to try to get a sense of how does the county’s code function just in an effort to know more, and then also supplement their litigations,” Wendt explained.
Public records requests were made throughout the years, and lawsuits were filed in 2009 and 2012, Wendt said.
The Langes alleged violations of the Public Records Act for emails that were redacted under attorney-client privilege and “a number of documents that could best be described as legislative history pertaining to our 2007 code-amendment efforts,” Wendt said.
“Again, the plaintiff felt that those requests had not been proceeded to the extent that they believed was appropriate, and a lawsuit ensued in 2014,” Wendt said.
The redacted emails were from then-senior planner Selinda Barkhuis, who is now the county treasurer.
By recommending the proposed settlement, Barkhuis alleged that Nichols was admitting that he “knowingly, repeatedly and wrongfully redacted my email, my opinion, from the public record.”
“I think it’s an unconscionable conflict of interest for him or his deputy to be advising you as to the merits of this case,” Barkhuis added in public comments to the board.
Nichols did not respond to Barkhuis’ statements Tuesday.
Local jurisdictions have been ordered to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for violations of the Public Records Act, Wendt told commissioners Monday.
Wendt opined that the proposed settlement was a “fantastic possibility for the county to explore and consider.”
“The alternative would be to go into court and advance the arguments that we have in defense of the county and just really see where the court is,” Wendt said.
Chapman urged his fellow commissioners to delay action on the land purchase.
“We haven’t had any public process yet,” Chapman said Tuesday.
“This was just dumped, this $300,000. You guys are talking about a lawsuit with Lange, but this is an agreement with another group of families. So I think there’s moving parts that aren’t all together.”
Prior commitments had prevented Chapman from reviewing correspondence related to the land purchase, he said.
“If I don’t know the information you guys are working on, it’s pretty difficult to think that anybody in the public knows,” Chapman said before a five-minute recess.
Delaying a vote on the land purchase would jeopardize the settlement agreement, Wendt said.
The full board agreed to pursue mediation and reached a proposed settlement backed by the elected DCD director and other county officials, Ozias said.
“As it turns out, we’re achieving a settlement that is going to result in a tangible benefit for the citizens of Clallam County in the form of a new park,” Ozias said.
“And not just a new park, but a park that provides saltwater public access, which is identified in our parks master plan as a top priority.
“This is not our ideal method of pursuing new parks for our citizens, but the fact that we have the opportunity to actually get something for the dollars that we’re spending in this settlement is from my understanding pretty unique,” Ozias said.
“This is an opportunity to try and make some lemonade out of a whole big pile of lemons.”
Commissioners will hold a special meeting with elected officials and department heads Thursday to discuss public records management.
The discussion will include an overview of current practice, the proposed designation of public records specialists in each department, electronic content management, training and next steps.
The meeting will begin at 1:30 p.m. in Room 160 at the Clallam County Courthouse, 223 E. Fourth St., Port Angeles.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56450, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
