PORT ANGELES — Port Angeles City Councilman Michael Merideth has been appointed to the Clallam County Trust Lands Advisory Committee.
Merideth will join 19 other committee members who have embarked on a one-year study of state management of revenue-producing forest trust lands.
Based on a Jan. 26 recommendation of the Port Angeles City Council, Commissioners Mike Chapman and Mark Ozias made the appointment Tuesday.
Commissioner Bill Peach was absent.
“It’s the city of Port Angeles’ representative, so we really have nothing to do but to accept that,” Chapman said.
Merideth, a truck driver for Bruch & Bruch Construction, offered to fill the position as someone with experience in the forest products industry.
Change in plans
An original recommendation to appoint Port Angeles Deputy Mayor Cherie Kidd to the committee drew an objection from City Councilman Lee Whetham, who testified Jan. 12 that the council had not discussed the appointment.
Commissioners subsequently removed Kidd’s name from a resolution appointing new members to the diverse panel.
“This is exactly what was brought to us a couple weeks ago where council member Whetham said that the City Council hadn’t talked about this,” Chapman said Tuesday.
“Now it appears they have gone through their process.”
The City Council agreed to appoint Meredith to the trust lands committee near the end of a six-hour meeting last month.
“I see no reason why we should not accept it,” Ozias said.
The Trust Lands Advisory Committee was tasked by the Charter Review Commission and county commissioners to examine whether it makes sense for the county to take back the management of 92,525 acres of forest trust lands.
If reconveyance is not recommended, the committee will help the state Department of Natural Resources fulfill its trust mandate.
The committee meets the third Friday of the month 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. 5072, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.