Clallam County Treasurer will withhold Grants to City and Port
Clallam County Treasurer Selinda Barkhuis has said she will withhold the grants to the City and Port of Port Angeles. The three county commissioners had voted on May 12th to grant $1 million to the Port to complete a composites recycling center, and $285,952 to the City of Port Angeles for waterfront improvements.
This money had been earmarked for the Carlsborg sewer.
In an email, Barkhuis wrote:
“In my opinion, county commissioners do not have the authority to 'authorize' and 'wish' away their own compliance with provisions in state law and county policy that entitle county taxpayers to public hearings and written contracts. As such, as the duly elected county treasurer acting on behalf of the Clallam County taxpayers, I will withhold the funds for these grants until the Clallam County Superior Court has determined whether these funds are being 'disbursed according to law. To the extent that the Board of County Commissioners utilizes taxpayer-funded legal representation to pursue disbursement of these funds in the absence of prior public hearings and written contracts, I will request the county Superior Court to appoint me independent legal representation to assist me in defending these important taxpayer rights before the county Superior Court judiciary, to occur before the funds leave the county treasury forever.”
This money had been earmarked for the Carlsborg sewer.
In an email, Barkhuis wrote:
“In my opinion, county commissioners do not have the authority to 'authorize' and 'wish' away their own compliance with provisions in state law and county policy that entitle county taxpayers to public hearings and written contracts. As such, as the duly elected county treasurer acting on behalf of the Clallam County taxpayers, I will withhold the funds for these grants until the Clallam County Superior Court has determined whether these funds are being 'disbursed according to law. To the extent that the Board of County Commissioners utilizes taxpayer-funded legal representation to pursue disbursement of these funds in the absence of prior public hearings and written contracts, I will request the county Superior Court to appoint me independent legal representation to assist me in defending these important taxpayer rights before the county Superior Court judiciary, to occur before the funds leave the county treasury forever.”
posted by Tom Harper at 9:50 PM
4 Comments:
Glad to hear this. Finally, a public servant who stands up for doing the right thing.
Yea. Go girl go.....fight those corrupt bastards. Next step would be to indict and recall the thieves. Hold them accountable.
So typical for elected officials to be clueless about the rules for these things. SOP to her; "vendetta" to others, I believe that was the word used not too long ago. If the rules say public hearing, you hold a g.d. public hearing.
All the elected officials are in bed with each other.....who's got time for silly rules.......why waste time listening to the common folk when you couldn't care less about what they think. McAleers daddy said do it......so git er done. After all it's not their money they're risking.
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