BREMERTON — The City of Bremerton offered to leave the Kitsap Regional Coordinating Council early at its June 2 meeting.

KRCC Chair Robert Gelder said he doesn’t see a reason to ask Bremerton to leave early, but expects the topic to be an agenda item at the next meeting in July.

“It’d be a mutual agreement,” said Greg Wheeler, Bremerton City Council president. “This is more of our way of saying we want to do what’s best for KRCC.”

Bremerton announced its withdrawal from the KRCC on May 22, but will remain an active member for six months.

“We’ll stand by ready to participate,” Wheeler said. “If the board wants to expedite (the process) we’ll respect that.”

Saying goodbye to Mary McClure

The council took a few minutes to recognize Mary McClure, the KRCC’s longtime consultant and executive manager, in her final meeting.

McClure has been with the KRCC since 1999. She announced last year she would step down from her position. The KRCC is moving toward developing its own staff.

The council honored McClure with a standing ovation.

Robert Gelder, KRCC chair, thanked McClure for her professionalism and expertise while organizing the many jurisdictions, which he compared to herding cats.

“We very much appreciate everything that you’ve done,” Gelder said.

John Powers, executive director of the Kitsap Economic Development Alliance, called McClure an asset to the community.

“Mary’s going to be sorely missed. Sometimes you don’t know what you have until you lose it,” Powers said. “My best advice to this community advice to this community to give thanks to Mary is to stay the course, do what you’ve done in the past even though it’s difficult.”

McClure said she cares about each jurisdiction and the mission of the KRCC.

“A key piece of that for me has been that you are provided with the environment and the information to make good decisions because what I strongly believe this organization is ultimately about is good decisions that come out of good relationships,” McClure said.

McClure said the danger in groups like the KRCC is “politicization” and distributing slanted information to favor a given outcome.

“I have worked very hard and every document that comes before you is scrubbed for whether or not it is balanced and clear,” she said. “And that would be something that I hope you would be conscious of as you look to the future in the next level of leadership.”

McClure said she’s enjoyed figuring out different ways to coax collaboration between jurisdictions.

“This has been a good episode in my life,” McClure said. “Thank you.”

McClure won’t be out of the public eye for long. She’s currently running unopposed for Port of Kingston Commissioner, District 2.