‘Too soon:’ Council rejects debate on government form

The Gig Harbor City Council last week turned aside a first attempt to schedule a debate on changing the city’s form of government, the majority agreeing it was too soon.

“I have thought long and hard about this subject,” said Council Member Tracie Markley. “My gut feeling is this is not a good time to do this. I think we are going through quite enough as a city, quite enough as a nation. I think we need some stability.”

The council rejected, 4-3, a motion by Council Member Jeni Woock which would have asked the council to set an agenda item Jan. 28 to discuss changing from a strong-mayor to a council-manager form of government. The debate would have been about whether a ballot measure should be placed on a special election in April.

The majority — and the mayor — felt a ballot measure that soon, in the middle of a pandemic, would be jumping the gun.

“This is absurd,” said Council Member Bob Himes, one of two council members who objected strongly to the idea. “If we go through with this, it is absolutely crazy.”

HImes joined Markley, council members Jim Franich and Spencer Abersole in opposing the agenda item. Council members Robyn Denson, Le Rodenberg and Woock voted for it.

“We are on our third city administrator in three years,” said Woock. “Forty-three percent of our employees have left working for the city, and another 33 percent say they will leave in the next two years. We have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars replacing employees who have left.”

Woock was citing data partly from a recent survey of 98 of the city’s 100 employees, which found widespread dissatisfaction with Mayor Kit Kuhn, the city administrator, Bob Larson, and the human resources director, Kameil Borders.

More than 20 employees, including department heads and supervisors, have left the city since Kuhn was elected in 2017. Many of the 73 pages of complaints in the survey were about Kuhn, whom employees complained treated them with discourtesy and contempt, sometimes erupting in rages.

Woock’s statistics were challenged by Franich, who said she was counting one city administrator too many, and by Kuhn, who said many of the losses were routine retirements.

Strong-mayor town

Gig Harbor is a strong-mayor city, in which the mayor is separately elected from the council and has authority to hire and fire staff, including the city administrator and department heads. In a council-manager government, the council hires a professional city manager who reports directly to the council, and the mayor is a figurehead chosen from among council members.

In a study session Jan. 7, the council heard from two experts from the nonprofit Municipal Research and Services Center, who said switching to a council-manager government requires a vote of the people. There are two ways to get a measure on the ballot, they said: a resolution by the City Council or a citizen’s petition signed by 10 percent of the voters in the last election.

The three council members who supported a debate said they wanted to hear from the public on the issue.

“As we weigh the pros and cons, I’d like to what what the public has to say, said Denson. “This a really big decision, and here we have an opportunity to have full and open discussion on methods of governments, and we we can listen to the opinions of the public.”

Added Rodenberg, “ I don’t think we should underestimate the public’s ability to assimilate this.”

‘Poisonous’ to city

But council members who support the mayor said the agitation for a change in government is coming only from a few council members. Franich called the proposal “another in a line of politically motivated items that is poisonous for our community. For this council to even entertain this is beyond me.”

“If this had come from the grass-roots level, I would support it, but it hasn’t,” said Franich. “ It has come from a few council people who aren’t happy with the mayor, so let’s just call it what it is.”

Himes urged his colleagues, “Don’t let the current situation of Gig Harbor dictate the future. This thing could flip the other way, and we would look even dumber. We need to have a detailed discussion about methods of governance, but, this is warp speed. I will not agree any incremental expenditures by staff to do this crazy thing.”

Swing vote

Markley, who has expressed concern over employee complaints in the past, provided the swing vote.

“This is hard, because I really care about our staff,” she said. “But in my gut, I feel this is the wrong time.”

“I think this is a reaction to the survey results, and I think this is a knee-jerk reaction,” she added. As much as I would love to hear what the public has to say, I think it would overwhelm them. It even overwhelms me ... I think we need a little more time under our belt.”

In 2021, she noted, there will be four new council members elected and “possibly a new mayor.”

The discussion came after the council heard a third expert, a former Gig Harbor city administrator who has also worked as a city manager in SeaTac and Sumner.

Michael Wilson told the council that cities tend toward council-manager government as they get larger.

Size matters

“Of the 11,000 cities in the United States over a population of 2,500, council-manager is 40 percent and the strong mayor form is 38 percent,” he said. In Washington state, the ratio is smaller: About 35 percent of cities over 2,500 use the council-manager form.

But he noted that all 12 of the most recently incorporated cities, including SeaTac, Woodinville, Federal Way, and Sammamish, have all chosen council-manager, although Federal Way later went back to strong-mayor.

“One advantage of council-manager is that it is very black-and-white,” he said. “The duties and responsibilities of the city manager are very clear. The city administrator’s role in a strong-mayor government can change overnight.”

Wilson said in 35 years in government, he’s worked for 12 mayors, including 3 in Gig Harbor. One of the things he has learned, he said, is that “there’s no right way. It depends on the mayor, and it depends on the council.”

In other business, the City Council:

▪ Heard from city staff about changes to the city building code to keep it in line with state code. Building and fire inspector Paul Rice said most of the changes have to do with insulation and heating/cooling efficiency ratings. The changes will come up for a vote next Council meeting.

▪ Approved a $948,896 contract with Tacoma Pump and Drill to drill a 16-inch, 900-foot deep water well to replace the city’s Well No. 3 on Soundview Drive. The old well had a badly deteriorated casing and will be decommissioned, said Public Works Director Jeff Langhelm.

▪ Approved 6-0, with one abstention, a resolution directing staff to provide quarterly updates on the progress of projects in the budget.

Chase Hutchinson contributed to this story.

Reach Kerry Webster at editor@gateline.com

This story was originally published January 20, 2021 at 5:30 AM.