PORT ANGELES — Like the pool it oversees, the Quillayute Valley Park and Recreation District is running dry.
No candidates stepped forward in the special filing period to run for the four open commissioners’ seats.
The fifth commissioner, chairwoman Sandra Carter, is not up for reelection.
“We have not been able to find anyone interested in serving as a commissioner,” Carter said on Friday.
Commissioner Deborah Anderson’s term expires at the end of the year, and the other three seats are vacant.
First time
“I’ve been here 22 years,” Clallam County Auditor Patty Rosand said. “This is first time there’s ever been an inactive district.”
The district oversees the Quillayute Valley Aquatic Center, which closed in September 2006 after voters turned away two maintenance and operations tax levy measures.
Another measure, which would have created a new taxing district — a metropolitan park and recreation district — to fund pool operation was voted down in the November 2007 by a margin of about 65 percent to 35 percent.
It has $20,000 in annual expenses, about half of which goes to insurance.
“We could still appoint a new commissioner,” Carter said.
“We’re frankly going to have to do some research to determine what happens next.”
Dissolve district?
The three county commissioners likely will discuss the possibility of dissolving the park district in a work session on June 22 at the courthouse in Port Angeles, County Administrator Jim Jones said.
Public hearings would precede the dissolution of the district.
“State statute says a junior taxing direct can be dissolved by county commissioners if they cease to become active,” Jones said Friday.
“If nobody applies today, they have no quorum. They can’t act.”
Jones said he will send a legal action request to the Clallam County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office this week.
“If it’s dissolved as a junior taxing district, what happens to the assets?” Jones asked.
“What happens to the bond? We’re not exactly sure.”
Jones said the commissioners will rely on the “wisdom and the will of the people” to sort out the issue.
