BREMERTON — Your move, Bremerton.

The Kitsap Regional Coordinating Council (KRCC) rejected Bremerton’s proposed voting structure changes seven votes to four May 5.

Bremerton representatives have clamored for changes to the voting structure after rejecting an interlocal agreement in March.

The city will consider its future with KRCC at its May 13 study session when Greg Wheeler, who represents Bremerton at the KRCC, reports back to the city council.

Wheeler said he expected the motion to be struck down.

“I would’ve been surprised if it hadn’t turned out this way,” Wheeler said.

Bremerton’s dismay with the voting structure stems from the amount of control given to county commissioners.

“The Bremerton City Council is not comfortable with the county controlling the process if this is supposed to be an organization collaboration,” said Greg Wheeler, city council president. “By the language in the (interlocal agreement), that requires two votes from the county commissioners to get any work done.”

At least two commissioners are required to be present for a vote to occur. And at least two commissioners must agree for a motion to pass or fail — meaning motions fail if only two commissioners are present and there’s a split vote.

“We have the duty and responsibility of representing everybody in Kitsap County,” Gelder said.

(About two-thirds of Kitsap County residents live in unincorporated areas.)

“We all represent citizens. Every citizen is as equally important as the next one,” said Commissioner Charlotte Garrido of each of the KRCC members. “And when you start looking at population you have to take that into consideration.”

Bremerton wanted the KRCC to allow for votes to happen when there was a quorum of entities — seven representatives and four member agencies.

This option presents problems for Kitsap County residents in unincorporated areas, who could possibly be left unrepresented at meetings.

“It’s not something the county is comfortable in because … it basically opens the door to activity and action by this body without county commissioners present and participating,” said KRCC Chair Robert Gelder.

Poulsbo Mayor Becky Erickson echoed Gelder’s thoughts.

“I consider this to be pretty sad. We are all county residents,” Erickson said. “Literally, the cities could move together and eliminate the voice of the county.”

Gelder believes the current structure offers fair representation of all Kitsap County residents.

“The voting structure that’s in place offers balance,” Gelder said. “It offers that opportunity that if something is not able to reach that threshold of voting a particular time then it probably is a good indicator that we need to go back and do the work.”

Bremerton Mayor Patty Lent also voted against the motion. She felt a counter-proposal from the KRCC to adopt a hybrid, non-weighted vote would be sufficient.

However, that option is off the table for the time being because no member made a motion to consider it before the KRCC finalized the voting structure.

Notably absent was Commissioner Garrido, who instead attended a workforce panel in Olympia. Garrido sits on the Workforce Innovations and Opportunities Act Steering Committee of the Washington Workforce Training Board.

She said she “divided” as to which meeting to attend.

When asked if she was at all worried that missing a meeting in which the main topic of discussion involved commissioner attendance might seem disrespectful, Garrido said, “I don’t disrespect anybody on the KRCC. I respect them all highly.”

The county stacks several meetings on the first Tuesday of each month, which allows the commissioners to coordinate who will be where, Gelder said, explaining that Garrido’s absence was not unexpected.

“It’s sometimes hard to choose between the multiple meetings that we all have to attend,” Garrido said. “I don’t miss many Kitsap meetings.”

She said she’d like to see the KRCC move forward as it is now.

“I just hope in the end that we can find positive ways to continue collaborating,” Garrido said.