PORT ANGELES — A proposed Nov. 5 ballot measure to reduce Port of Port Angeles commissioners’ terms from six years to four years will be discussed in an upcoming port commission workshop.
The workshop probably will be held at the next regular port commissioners’ meeting Aug. 26, commission President Jim Hallett said.
Hallett said Monday he was concerned that if voters approve the measure, more than one board position would be up for election in subsequent elections and port terms would not be staggered, creating a potential loss of continuity on the board if both incumbents lost their positions.
Monday meeting
Term-reduction proponent Norma Turner presented the proposal at Monday’s port commission meeting before commissioners said they may put forward their own term-related plan for voter approval.
She also urged the port commissioners to put the measure on the ballot themselves, “given the high level of public interest in this issue.”
“If this was on the ballot, have you thought through how this could be done so the terms are staggered?” Hallett asked Turner.
“That would be a difficult decision,” Turner said, adding that she was not sure it would be “good policy” to have two of three commissioners up for election at the same time.
Turner said she and more than 40 volunteers are close to collecting the minimum 2,686 signatures needed — 10 percent of voters in the 2011 election — to put the measure on the Nov. 5 ballot.
September deadline
The signatures must be collected by Sept. 2 for the measure to get on the Nov. 5 ballot, a deadline she said would be met.
“I don’t think this is a show-stopper,” Turner said.
“All laws are written by people and can be changed.”
If voters approve the measure as proposed, the winner of incumbent Paul McHugh’s port commission seat — Colleen McAleer or Del DelaBarre survived the Aug. 6 primary, not McHugh — would serve four years.
Port commissioners also could put the measure on the ballot.
Hallett and Commissioner John Calhoun would serve their full six years before their positions have four-year terms.
Calhoun is up for election in 2015 and Hallett in 2017, when either McAleer or DelaBarre will be up for re-election.
“I don’t want to see two-thirds of the commission turn over at one time,” Hallett said after Monday’s meeting.
“With two-thirds turnover, you could lose some continuity.”
Staggered terms
Hallett said he may propose that the winner of the November election serve five years in his or her first term on the board, and that the position have four-year terms in successive years so two commissioners are not ever up for election in the same year.
Clallam County commissioners have staggered terms, though majorities on the Port Angeles City Council, Port Townsend City Council and Jefferson County Board of Commissioners are up for election in the same years.
Turner said in a later interview that she saw little need for the workshop.
“I’m a little confused as to why they need to have a workshop for public input when they could have that discussion by putting it on the ballot, and that could create the discussion,” she said.
McHugh said the workshop would provide a good opportunity to also discuss increasing the number of port commission seats.
Commissioners are paid up to $13,992 a year in salary and per diem payments, and receive medical, dental, vision, long-term disability and life insurance.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
