Attorney charged with drug-smuggling to resign from West Pierce Fire commissioners board
Attorney John Sheeran is resigning from his West Pierce Fire Commissioner position following his indictment Oct. 21 in federal court for allegedly smuggling drugs into a King County Jail.
The Board of Fire Commissioners will address his letter of resignation during their Nov. 5 meeting, according to an agenda posted on their website.
To fill the vacant seat, the department will follow the procedures outlined in RCW 42.12.080, West Pierce Fire & Rescue spokesperson Jenny Weekes told The News Tribune via email Thursday. This section of the Revised Code of Washington details how special purpose districts, which govern separately from towns, cities or counties and provide services such as fire protection or electricity, are to fill vacancies of nonpartisan positions.
According to the code, members of the district’s governing body must nominate at least one candidate to replace the vacant member at a meeting. They must publish notice of the vacancy and the name of the nominee (or nominees) in three public places, one of which must be the district’s website if it has one, for at least 15 days. Voters who live in the district may also submit nominations to the governing body during this period.
The district’s governing body then meets to appoint a replacement from the nominated candidates. They have a deadline of 90 days from when the vacancy occurred to appoint the replacement.
If they fail to fill the position by then, the county legislature authority that governs the area where the district is located, or its largest portion, is authorized to appoint the replacement within 180 days of the vacancy. In this case, that’s the Pierce County Council. Should they also fail to do so, the county legislative authority or the district’s governing body may petition the governor to appoint a replacement.
The appointee “shall serve until a qualified person is elected at the next election at which a member of the governing body normally would be elected,” and the “person elected shall take office immediately and serve the remainder of the unexpired term,” according to the code.
Sheeran’s term is set to expire next year, according to the West Pierce Fire & Rescue website.
The News Tribune has submitted a public records request for a copy of Sheeran’s letter of resignation. The request is pending.
Jennifer Wellman, the attorney representing Sheeran, told The News Tribune in a statement Monday about the charges: “We look forward to responding to these allegations in court.”
News Tribune archives contributed to this report.
