PORT TOWNSEND – The City Council has set a Nov. 6 vote on a proposition to abandon the present council-city manager form of government.
Should it be approved by city voters, such a change would return the city of Port Townsend to its original strong mayor-council form of government.
That would mean the council would hire a new mayor to administrate city government, while the current mayor, Mark Welch, would remain on the seven-member council, said City Attorney John Watts.
“The council would not be taking a position one way or another” in calling the election, said Watts on Monday before the council unanimously set the Nov. 6 date with a resolution for a vote of the electorate.
The resolution and action to call for the election was required by state law because enough signatures had been gathered on a petition forcingthe action.
Longtime Port Townsend resident and businessman John Sheehan, chief proponent of the proposition, gathered 455 signatures of valid registered city voters on a petition.
The county Auditor’s Office, which oversees elections, certified the petition as sufficient.
“I plan on writing a couple of articles on why I would believe a strong mayor system of government is preferable, and I plan on talking with people,” Sheehan said on Tuesday.
He was back at work at Dogs-A-Foot, the stand he owns across Madison Street from City Hall, recovering from a pinched nerve in his back.
“I hope other concerned citizens in the community take the time to write the PDN and the Leader to express their ideas on the matter.
“I am hoping that this kind of an issue stimulates more people to participate,” he said.
“Although it may seem disruptive, I think it is disruptive in a healthy way.”
Sheehan contends that the current form of government is too expensive and does not need a bureaucrat to run it.
The council-manager form of government has been in place since voters approved it in 1998.
In a mayor-council form of government, an elected mayor serves as the city’s chief administrative officer, and a council serves as the municipality’s legislative body.
While the council has the power to formulate and adopt city policies, the strong mayor is responsible for carrying them out, according to the Municipal Research and Services Center of Washington.
The mayor presides over council meetings, but does not vote on council business, except in the case of a tie-breaker.
Welch, a lifetime Port Townsend resident, sees other options to reverting back to a strong-mayor form of government.
The mayor said he believes a professional city manager is needed.
City Manager David Timmons, who would lose his job if the proposition is passed, said he hopes the matter is about the form of government, not him.
