Bremerton representatives on the Kitsap Regional Coordinating Council (KRCC) are holding strong to the changes they want in its voting structure.
They’ve considered leaving if the changes aren’t made, despite the fact that it may make it harder for the city to get state funding for construction projects.
But an end to the controversy is looming.
According to Bremerton Mayor Patty Lent, the KRCC will vote on the matter May 5.
Still not seeing eye-to-eye
On April 10, Bremerton reps asked that changes be made to the voting structure.
The KRCC Executive Board is made up of 12 representatives from six agencies. Bremerton wants a quorum to require only a majority of representatives and agencies — meaning seven representatives and four agencies.
On April 17, the county countered with a proposal of their own. It falls short of what Bremerton wants.
The county proposed that:
• A quorum require at least one county commissioner and one representative from each city.
• Actions pass with a simple majority vote (more than 50 percent) during quorums.
• The current system remain in place for policy items such as bylaws, countywide program and transportation policies and other large regional issues or policies.
“There should be representation from each of the cities and the county to establish quorum,” said KRCC Chair Robert Gelder. “Lowering it to one per makes it easy to achieve. It’s a compromise that respects each of the members value on the council.”
Gelder would like to see the current voting remain in place for larger policy issues.
“Those are larger level formative policy decisions that should have a higher level of agreement to be adopted,” Gelder said. “The operational implementation of those would then have a simple majority vote, i.e., work plan would be a policy decision – the annual budget would be the operational implementation of that decision.”
Action after the vote
Following the May 5 vote, the Bremerton City Council will discuss which route the city goes at its May 13 study session.
Greg Wheeler, who along with Leslie Daugs, represents Bremerton on the KRCC, said there are no guarantees that the council will make any immediate decisions regarding its future with KRCC.
“It depends on how the meeting goes,” Wheeler said. “I’ll definitely report back to the council, but no decisions are set in stone.”
Voting structure problems
The Bremerton City Council — most vocally Roy Runyon — have complained that the current voting structure is susceptible to misuse.
“The county by law is required to work with us and yet the county thinks that they, for some reason, should have some kind of stranglehold on the operation of that body,” Runyon said. “I think it’s juvenile, paternalistic and it is not how partners should operate.”
Two commissioners are required to agree during a vote. In theory, that should be easy with three commissioners because, mathematically speaking, if three vote two will will agree.
However, this doesn’t account for absences or abstentions, which are essentially “no” votes.
Under current rules, motions will fail if one commissioner doesn’t vote and the other two disagree.
It’s happened twice since 2011.
In November 2011, the City of Bremerton was pursuing the chance to acquire a Department of Corrections facility that would employ over 500 and add a $100 million boost to the region. It failed at the KRCC because Commissioners Charlotte Garrido and Gelder abstained.
“So there’s an example of interference by one commissioner using this platform
to control our economic development initiatives,” Runyon said at the April 7 KRCC meeting. “That is very inappropriate.”
Most recently, a June 2014 motion failed because Garrido left the meeting prior to a vote and the remaining commissioners didn’t agree with each other.
About the KRCC
The KRCC Executive Board is comprised of 12 representatives from six agencies.
Together, it controls how state and federal funding for community development and transportation is dispersed.
Much of those funds are secured at the Regional Project Evaluation Committee, which is made up of dozens of cities and agencies from around Puget Sound, including Seattle and Tacoma. The KRCC competes against Seattle, Tacoma and many others for project funds.
Bremerton has considered leaving the KRCC. Doing so could make it much harder for them to secure funds for development and transportation projects.
“You’ve got this large group of communities on the other side of the water that kind of look at us as the outsiders,” said Tom Knuckey, Bremerton city engineer. “It’s a very difficult group to be funded through.”
