City gives $330k to Port for broadband grant match; Bailey resigns amid questions of Mayor Weatherford's actions

DAYTON–The City Council approved the use of $330,000 of the $340,000 American Rescue Plan Act 2021 (ARPA) funds at their August 11 meeting, to go towards the $500,000 match requirement for the $2 million Community Economic Revitalization Board (CERB) grant the Port of Columbia was recently awarded to construct a fiber optic broadband network. Councilmember Misty Yost appealed to the Council to investigate other uses for the funds before approving them for broadband, but she was the only dissenting vote.

Executive Director for the Port of Columbia, Jennie Dickinson had previously come before Mayor Zac Weatherford and the Council to speak with them about the need for broadband in the community at the June meeting and once again was present along with several other supporters, including those from the three private companies committed to offering the broadband to the area once the network is built–Emerge of Inland Cellular, Pocket iNet and Columbia iConnect.

Other supporters present were Port Commissioner Sean Brown and wife, High School Principal Kristina Brown, Columbia County Health System Dr. Kim Emery, and Columbia County Rural Library Director Todd Vandenbark. All spoke of the struggle with the current internet that is available in the area and the need for broadband mainly for doing business and attracting businesses. Dickinson said getting awarded the grant is the tax payer money coming back to the community and is a "once in a very long-time opportunity."

Emerge representative said if the match requirement is not met, the money will go somewhere else. The Pocket iNet representative said this grant allows the Dayton community to have broadband where smaller private companies don't have the funds to build the infrastructure, and larger companies, specifically Century Link, don't want to invest in rural towns. Community members Seth Murdock and City Council candidate Cindi John both spoke out against the broadband project during the opening public comment section stating that broadband is a community want and not a need.

The City will receive an additional $340,000 in ARPA funds next year, but currently is facing a budget shortfall of around $225,000 of which the recent increase in utility tax is helping to cover. The ARPA funds have limits on what they can be used for, but the website clearly states it can be used for broadband as well as for water and sewer infrastructure. The funds are also allowed for "premium pay for essential workers" of which city workers are listed on the state essential-workers list. Additionally, the funds can be used for revenue replacement for government reduction of services due to COVID-19 in 2020 as compared to 2019.

Because of the budget shortfall, the mayor's actions in the three employee terminations on June 16, without cause, which resulted in paying out hefty severance packages at $287,000 each, the Council hesitated to approve pay increases for the interim employees filling these jobs. It was approved for Eddie Strickland, who has been acting as the interim Public Works Manager. But it was tabled for Deputy Clerk Deb Hayes who has taken on the role as City Clerk Administrator because of the need to clarify the pay difference.

Yost suggested to the Council, after updating on the progress of revising job descriptions for the vacant positions, "We need to do a better job of digging in and knowing what our staff is doing." She also expressed the need for Council to review the monthly meeting packets before meeting.

Mayor Weatherford responded to questions sent to him about the situation surrounding his decision about the terminations. When asked about meeting with Council before the terminations the mayor said that after he had already terminated the employees, he looked at informing the Council in Executive Session, but found that the Washington statute "language is read narrowly and may not apply where the employee has already been terminated."

The mayor said he has sought advice from the City Attorney. He admitted to not fully restricting access to the computers to the employees once terminated. He explained he allowed access "to keep moving forward with already underway projects and for remaining staff to understand how to continue fulfilling the obligations required by our city, cross-training was required." He said the building access was removed, however he said later when questioned by Mayor Pro-Tem Dain Nysoe that one of the former employees had come in person to handle the cross-training and to help move existing projects forward.

Community member Zella Powers interjected to ask if this person is getting paid for their time and later Weatherford told her that they are not receiving additional pay. The mayor went on to say he considered the financial impact on the City when making his decision for firing the employees and determined "that these costs were budgeted for annually and provided for by various revenue sources such as sales and use taxes, property taxes and utility rate structures and would be and were paid out of salary, wages, benefits and adjustments to projected revenue reserves.

All employees were paid based on the percentage of workload that is charged to a respective fund. Severance packages were paid to the three former employees and were paid on a similar basis with an assumption of what their projected workload was going to be for the remainder of the year and this was based on anticipated projects as provided in the 2021 budget."

At the end of the meeting, Councilmember Delphine Bailey read a letter she wrote addressing the mayor. "Less than two months ago, you stated emphatically that you would not be in support of layoffs of any kind and that you stood by your employees one hundred percent. I would like to ask you, 'What happened to make you change your mind?' The only explanation you are willing to give is that it's time for change. You have stated several times that this was your decision and yours alone. While you are correct in the fact that you as mayor have that authority to make such a decision, I would argue that making that decision without Council input was unethical. As Chairman of the Finance Committee, I have asked you three times what your plan is moving forward and all you will say is that you don't have a plan, but that you hope that the Council will support you. I am insulted that you would ask me to support you when I have no idea what that looks like, and at this time, I am not confident in following you. I respectfully request that you come clean with the Council and members of the community as to why you acted in such haste without any input from the Council and tell us what your plan is moving forward. Because of this, I am submitting my resignation, effective immediately."

Council candidate Laura Aukerman questioned the mayor on his recent action to fire three department heads, but remain silent as to reasoning. "We want to move forward and I agree with that but, there's a lot of questions that weren't answered," said Aukerman. "The answers are very textbook and legal. When you fire someone even though it was for no cause and you want change, they're in City Hall every day? That just doesn't seem ethical."

The mayor responded that not all left on bad terms. Aukerman pressed him for more detail. "But if you are going to use City money to fire someone because it was that darn important, you bring them back every day to work in there? It just doesn't make sense," she said. "What is the change? You want change. What is the change you want to see? If your council does not know what that change is, how will you not repeat that same problem and in two months fire whoever is in that position because the change wasn't made?" Aukerman also asked that the budget be more transparent to show where the City is at in its expenditures within the allowed budgets.

From the Washington State Mayor and Councilmember Handbook to which Weatherford has previously referred, it advises mayors to "Resist the urge to drastically change the organization before you know how it really works. Many of your city's policies have evolved over the years through trial and error. While some methods may appear to need an immediate overhaul, it pays to watch the operation for a while before trying new methods. Don't seek change simply to do things differently!"

The Council voted unanimously to affirm an earlier decision designating The Times of Waitsburg as its newspaper of record for 2021-22. Dayton Chronicle publisher Loyal Baker had formally requested that the decision be reconsidered on the basis that The Times didn't fulfill all the requirements of the Call for Bids issued by the City of Dayton. City Attorney Quinn Plant advised the City Council that it may waive minor discrepancies in a bid, and the June meeting's action to accept the bid, in effect, waived the missing statement of intent. No further action was necessary, Plant said via teleconference, however, a motion by Councilman Michael Paris had been made and was subsequently voted upon.