PORT ANGELES — A second formal complaint has been made against City Councilman Max Mania over his behavior — this time by City Council colleague Brooke Nelson.
In her Aug. 16 complaint aired during a City Council meeting Tuesday night, Nelson accused Mania of inappropriate and offensive conduct.
It follows a July 20 complaint about Mania to the council by former Clallam County Democratic Party Vice Chair Jack Slowriver.
Nelson’s complaint is centered on emails from Mania to supporters and city officials written on his city email account.
The complaint also discusses his efforts to encourage opposition to the Nippon Industries USA’s ongoing biomass cogeneration expansion project by, for example, possibly holding up protest signs in front of council members staffing a table at the downtown farmers market.
Mania also suggests in the emails that a group be formed that might be named “Parents Against Poison Air” to speak out against the project to the City Council.
“If I have overstepped in some council members’ minds in encouraging public involvement, I do apologize, but that was the motive,” Mania told the council.
“I have always been about just trying to get the public involved,” he said.
“I try to base my decisions on facts. I’ve been passionate about public service.”
Mayor Cherie Kidd would not allow Mania to ask Nelson directly about her complaint, saying that the council does not have a policy in place to address complaints about council members.
Kidd said Mania could make a statement and respond in writing to the accusations.
Mania said he had been “smeared,” had the right to directly question Nelson, and that he had a list of questions at the ready.
“It’s my reputation, my ethical standing that is being challenged if we leave this in limbo, and I’m not real pleased with that,” Mania said.
“This feels like I’ve taken a punch and I’m not even allowed to ask someone why you punched me. That’s all I’d like to do.”
The complaint originally was scheduled for council discussion at an executive session that would have been closed to the public.
But Mania requested that the council discuss it in an open session.
Nelson’s two-page complaint alleges Mania engaged in “unacceptable poor behavior.”
She said “specific complaints over several months” from citizens about Mania’s behavior prompted her to review his city emails.
“Some of the email shows an attempt to undermine or sabotage positions formally adopted by the council, or interfere with the work of other council members,” Nelson said in the complaint, which she read aloud at the meeting.
“There are many emails that Max suggests to citizens to confront/picket/sabotage the mayor and discredit additional council members.”
The correspondence was included in a 66-page packet that contained numerous emails Mania wrote on his city account.
Kidd said that the council will discuss establishing a code of ethical conduct at a work session scheduled for 5 p.m. Tuesday in the council chambers at City Hall, 321 E. Fifth St.
Councilman and former Mayor Dan Di Guilio said he does not expect that the new code of conduct will be retroactively applied to Nelson’s complaint.
But he said he had read the entire packet and was “disappointed” in Mania.
“I am disappointed after reading some of the emails that a council member would encourage people to picket the council, to come down and protest against the council because we disagree with that particular council members’ position on a particular issue,” Di Guilio said.
“We need to provide the council with some boundaries and some guidelines to work with so that we can continue to inform the public, we can continue to have diverse opinions but we don’t cross the line,” he added.
“Encouraging people to picket and to do some of the things encouraged by Mania in the emails crosses that line,” he said.
“We need to have a clear understanding that that is not appropriate behavior of a public official,” Di Guilio said.
Some members of the audience repeatedly shouted to Kidd that Mania should be allowed to address Nelson.
“Let the man defend himself. Come on,” shouted one.
Councilwoman Sissi Bruch also said Mania should be allowed to respond.
“To me, it seems that Brooke was able to state what she felt in her letter, and Max needs to have a chance,” Bruch said.
“This letter does bring up a ton of questions.”
At the end of the meeting, Mania made a statement, reading from what he said was a 2006 Peninsula Daily News letter to the editor that described the qualities of leadership before apologizing.
“I make the best decisions I can, even though it may not be popular, and I think in that sense, I am truly a leader.
“I look forward to an actual resolution of this,” he said.
He reiterated his objections to not being able to ask questions of Nelson in an email Wednesday morning.
“Out of respect for due process, and in the spirit of balance, fairness and openness, I should have been allowed to ask questions of my accuser,” he said.
“Unfortunately, Mayor Kidd did not allow due process or fairness to enter into last night’s meeting, and she repeatedly denied my requests to simply ask some questions.
“She turned what was already a travesty into a complete mockery of open discussion. I was smeared, then I was censored.”
Slowriver filed a formal complaint July 20 with the council alleging Mania engaged in “unethical” behavior over her lack of political support for his wife, Dale Holiday, an unsuccessful primary election candidate for county commissioner, and that he used foul language against Slowriver.
Mania said his conversation with Slowriver was private and that he had “reminded” her of his support of her in the past.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at paul.gottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.