PAID ADVERTISEMENT
Wednesday
19th Annual
FEBRUARY 13 & 14, 2016
FREE
Saturday 9 - 4 | Sunday 10 - 3 at the Sequim High School
Admission
New Construction | Remodeling | Green Building | Roofing | Heating Flooring | Cabinetry | Financing | Renewable Energy
Presented by
360-452-8160 www. NPBA .info
621520785
Showers are forecast today across area B10
PENINSULA DAILY NEWS February 10, 2016 | 75¢
Port Angeles-Sequim-West End
Prosecutor to review PA slush fund
The votes are cast
Police: No crime seen but officials vow action City reviewing
BY PAUL GOTTLIEB PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
KEITH THORPE/PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
Clallam County Election workers Susan Johnson, left, and Nancy Loghry verify signatures on incoming ballots at the Clallam County Courthouse in Port Angeles on Tuesday. The latest results for the Clallam election are available today at www. peninsuladailynews.com.
Sequim manager sees positive review, raise session Saturday. He received a rating of 8.7 out of 10. Mayor Dennis Smith said council members recognize Bush is early into his tenure and there are things they will be able to better evaluate through a full budget cycle. “But we are very pleased with BY MATTHEW NASH the level of communication we OLYMPIC PENINSULA NEWS GROUP have with Charlie and how well SEQUIM — After nearly six his empowering management months on the job, the city man- style has been received by staff,” ager has the approval of the Smith said. Sequim City Council. The council Monday unani- Pay raise mously approved 6-0, with CounBush receives a 1.5 percent cilwoman Candace Pratt absent, a pay increase for Charlie Bush, pay increase, or $1,800 more a who succeeded former City Man- year, on top of his $120,000 base ager Steve Burkett in August salary. Bush was acknowledged for 2015. The decision follows Bush’s his weekly updates to the council performance review in executive and his efforts to bring commu-
nity partners together. However, council members said they want to prioritize reducing property crime rates and be more sensitive to local per- Bush ceptions. New Councilman Bob Lake said he’s “very pleased with Charlie’s performance today,” while fellow Councilman Ted Miller said Bush “has done an incredibly good job so far . . . we’re very thankful he’s our city manager.” Bush told the council he’s thankful for the opportunity to work in Sequim.
Bush is given high marks, 1.5% increase
TURN
TO
SEQUIM/A4
PORT ANGELES — A special deputy prosecuting attorney will decide if criminal charges should be filed over the alleged improper use and misappropriation of public property by city electric utility employees, Clallam County Prosecuting Attorney Mark Nichols said Tuesday. The allegations include evidence of a “City Light Slush Fund” bank account that was at least 21 years old and was fueled by proceeds from employees cashing in recyclable metal — fuses — to pay for Christmas and retirement parties and potlucks, according to a five-month State Patrol investigation. Nichols said he expects to choose a special deputy prosecuting attorney within 10 days and to have that person’s charging decision by the end of February.
State Patrol: No criminal activity The State Patrol, which referred its report to Nichols, determined that criminal activity did not occur with regard to recycled fuses, according to the agency’s 14-page Dec. 17 summary. The city Police Department “found no criminal activity” over the employees taking the poles for their own use “rather than recycling, as they should,” according to the summary. The city and State Patrol investigations were prompted by an allegation by city Parks and Recreation Department Director Corey Delikat, himself a former public works department employee when parks and recreation was in public works.
City officials — who hired Bellevue attorney Richard Kaiser to follow up on the Port Angeles police probe — also are reviewing the two law enforcement investigations. Human Resources Director Abbi Fountain said Tuesday the city plans to take action against employees based on the investigations that could range from corrective counseling to termination. “The city is not going to do nothing,” she said. Fountain said the city is reviewing “all the information.” “We acknowledged that four things have happened,” Fountain said Tuesday. Those things were outlined in a city statement authored, Fountain said, by Heidi Greenwood, senior assistant city attorney, and released late Monday afternoon. City employees “may have used city tools and equipment in their off-hours for personal projects,” according to the city’s statement. In addition, “city employees had taken, for their own use, city power poles that would have otherwise been sent to the landfill,” the statement said. Employees “had an account at a local bank that was, at least in part, funded by proceeds from recycling spent fuses that would otherwise have been thrown away,” according to the statement. “Fourth, the report found that some employees propagated rumors that the account had funded the education of an employee’s children. “The State Patrol discovered that the rumor may have started as a ruse or joke.” TURN
TO
FUNDS/A4
Temporary closure for span Railroad Bridge to get new decking PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
SEQUIM — Railroad Bridge will be closed beginning Monday for up to five weeks to allow ramp and redecking work. The action will close the segment of the Olympic Discovery Trail that travels across the bridge. A detour will be in place. The bridge across the Dungeness River was reopened to the public on Christmas Eve after the Jamestown S’Klallam tribe replaced a damaged trestle in a $1.53 million project. The bridge had been closed to the public since last February, when the western trestle was damaged by
weeks, but construction or weather problems could delay reopening by another week or two. The same detour used during trestle reconstruction will be posted. The detour route from east to west will leave the trail in Sequim at Fifth Avenue, go north on Fifth to Old Olympic Highway, turn west across the river on the Old Olympic Highway bridge, then south on Heath Road to rejoin the trail. In preparation to adequately support the anticipated concrete surface, volunteers with the Peninsula Trails Coalition spent about 100 volunteer hours reinforcing the structural integrity of the ramp.
a flood of the Dungeness River. Thanks to a $100,000 donation from the First Federal Community Foundation, officials with the Jamestown S’Klallam tribe are able to redo the decking on the bridge and adjoining ramp in Railroad Bridge Park at 2151 W. Hendrickson Road, Sequim. The often-slippery and weakening wooden deck will be replaced with concrete — mirroring the newly built 750-foot steel trestle that connects to the bridge. The length of closure will KEITH THORPE/PENINSULA DAILY NEWS depend upon the weather. ______ Bicyclist Mark Langeberg of Sequim takes a break on the If everything goes smoothly, project managers say, it could be Olympic Peninsula News Group original main span over the Dungeness River at Railroad Bridge Park in Sequim on Tuesday. reopened in as little as three sources contributed to this report.
1500 Sport Crew Cab
West BC Retail Consumer Cash[1] .. -$2,000 Truck Month Retail Bonus Cash[1].. -$1,000 West Chrysler Capital 2015 Bonus Cash[1].. -$500
STK#C8160
WILDER
Chrysler Dodge Jeep® Ram
You Can Count On Us! 53 JETTA WAY, PORT ANGELES
TOTAL $AVING$
452-9268 • 800-927-9372
www.WilderChryslerDodgeJeepRam.com
621522037
New 2016 Ram
$3,500
[1] Residency restrictions apply. Must take retail delivery by 2/29/16. Sale Price plus Tax, License and a negotiable $150 documentation fee. *If they are a returning Lessee. See Wilder CDJR for details. Ad expires one week from date of publication.
INSIDE TODAY’S PENINSULA DAILY NEWS 100th year, 34th issue — 2 sections, 20 pages
BUSINESS CLASSIFIED COMICS COMMENTARY DEAR ABBY DEATHS HOROSCOPE LETTERS NATION/WORLD
B10 B5 B4 A9 B4 A8 B4 A9 A3
*PENINSULA SPOTLIGHT
PENINSULA POLL PUZZLES/GAMES SPORTS WEATHER
A2 B6 B1 B10