We all heard the campaign rhetoric from Clark County council candidates last year.
Promises of collaboration.
Hope for a better future.
The dominating theme of moving forward after recent controversial policy decisions.
And it was hard not to feel like change was coming. After all, the addition of two councilors to the board — a cornerstone of the home rule charter voters approved in 2014 — represented a major shift for a council that has faced intense public scrutiny in recent years.
But after months of campaigning, it took only hours for the Clark County council to set the tone for what would prove to be yet another contentious period for the board — and to dismantle any hope of a quieter, gentler year for a county council whose antics continue to dominate the news cycle and public conversation.
Republican Councilor Julie Olson and council Chair Marc Boldt, no party preference, fresh off their victories in November, joined sitting Republican Councilors David Madore, Jeanne Stewart and Tom Mielke on the board in January.
And at its first meeting, with a series of 3-2 votes to repeal seven resolutions championed by -Madore, the council wasted no time drawing lines.
On one side, newly elected Boldt and Olson joined Stewart to form a new majority voting bloc. Madore and Mielke, meanwhile, have found themselves in the minority, a new position for the conservatives who once enjoyed the majority.
“It’s pretty obvious that the political philosophy of the board here has shifted,” Acting County Manager Mark McCauley said.
That power shift has created frustration among the councilors as meetings have continued to devolve into arguments among the board’s members.
Stewart, who oftentimes last year was the sole dissenting voice on the board in controversial matters, said recent strife on the board has distracted councilors from serving the people.
“We need to get busy,” Stewart said. “It’s an embarrassment if you have an elected body that spins its wheels and gets tied up in foolishness.”
‘A clean slate’
At its first meeting of the year, the Clark County council voted again and again to repeal seven resolutions on transportation, bridges and economic policies written by Madore and approved by him and Mielke at the council’s final meeting in 2015. A vocal and divided crowd cheered and booed each action as it came down.
“I’m just flabbergasted,” Madore said at that first meeting. “This is supposed to be fixing dysfunctional government?”
For many, the answer to that question was yes.
“The first meeting was a surprise to me,” Olson said. “We felt (those resolutions) had been pushed through at the last meeting. I was surprised at the emotional response to that action.”
Repealing those resolutions allowed the council to “start with a clean slate,” Stewart said.
“What we did at the first of the year was say, we do not want to be bound by some of those decisions that we think could have been better,” Stewart said.
The trend has continued throughout the year, as the council has repealed actions taken by the three-member board in 2015. A 2 percent cut to the county’s property tax levy was reset, resulting in no change to taxes. Madore’s controversial Alternative 4, which would have allowed for smaller parcel sizes in rural Clark County, was removed from the county’s zoning component of its 20-year land-use plan.
And questions hang in the air about the future of other programs. Will the council reinstate parking fees at Clark County parks, which Madore and Mielke voted to eliminate in 2013? Might the county’s fee-waiver program, which lifts traffic impact and application fees for new businesses in Clark County, face changes or even elimination? And will the county keep McCauley in his role as county manager, where he currently serves on an interim basis, or will they seek other candidates for the position?
Through it all, Madore has kept up a steady stream of attacks at his fellow councilors, taking to calling them “the liberal majority” on Facebook and accusing the three of colluding behind closed doors. Some members of the public, supporters of Madore’s, have taken up the call with gusto.
“The three councilors on the left side (of the dais) were elected by the people, by conservatives,” said Pauline Warren, who with her husband, Red Warren, makes regular comments to the council. “And as such, I would have expected that you would have recognized and represented their more conservative view. I found that shockingly not here, and that is very sad.”
On several occasions, McCauley has summoned Clark County sheriff’s deputies to attend the meetings to provide security.
“I’ve seen a lot of angry people around the country,” McCauley said. “I’m sorry to see it here. People passionate about things can be stirred by rhetoric from the dais.”
The challenges of the first quarter have already begun to take their toll.
At a council meeting on Clark County’s Comprehensive Growth Management Plan, Boldt began to cry over Madore’s accusations that county planning staff have lied to the council regarding the growth plan. Boldt said at that meeting he wished the councilors would “stop being so mean to each other.”
“The biggest challenge is trying to deal with so much spin from Councilors Madore and Mielke,” Boldt said in an interview with The Columbian.
Olson agreed that it’s been “trying” to find ways to work together to move Clark County forward. She pointed to Madore’s public Facebook page as one of the challenges. Madore uses his page to criticize councilors, McCauley and other members of county staff.
“When the decision is made, to go out and denigrate and trash your fellows, I’ve never seen anything like it,” Olson said.
Madore and Mielke did not return requests for comment for this story.
Charter progress
It’s been more than a year since Clark County became the most recent of seven counties in Washington to adopt a home rule charter, which added two councilors and a county manager who serves as the leading executive.
The county still has major changes to implement before being in full compliance with the charter, including hiring a permanent manager and updating county code to reflect the new form of government.
Former Camas Mayor Nan Henriksen, who chaired the group of freeholders tasked with writing the charter, said she’s grateful that the charter passed, but is saddened to see the council face “such a painful transition.”
“I think it would have been naïve of us not to expect this difficulty when you have two people in the county with all the power, and then you change the form of government explicitly to divide up that power to discourage abuse of power,” Henriksen said.
Madore announced at the Clark County Republican Convention earlier this month that he plans to run for re-election to the county council, while Mielke has officially announced his retirement.
Henriksen, who briefly considered a run for Clark County council District 4 herself, said she is “praying that moderate candidates” will win seats in Madore and Mielke’s districts.
“I think the atmosphere of the five-person council will be very different,” she said. “It will be more to solution-finding and less to grandstanding and causing hurt.”
Local businessman Tracy Wilson, on the other hand, was one of three freeholders who voted no on the final charter proposal. Wilson said that while he always supported expanding the county governing body from three members to five, the final document always felt incomplete to him. He fears the separation of powers between the council and county manager may have granted the manager too much power, and that outside interests may take advantage of the charter’s citizen-led initiative process.
“What we need to do is create a structure of government that isn’t just a reaction for the day,” Wilson said, referring to support for a charter on the basis of recent decisions by Madore and Mielke. “I think those biases were always there.”
But Wilson had praise for the current council, saying it will take time before the public can fairly evaluate the new members.
“I believe this council will be viewed positively,” he said. “The dust has to settle on some of these issues.”
Stewart, who opposed the charter, now says the council needs to accept it and try to move forward together.
“We need to understand that we need to recognize and accept that the citizens really did want a profound change in county government when they adopted the charter,” she said. “And we need to accept that part of that intent was to dilute so much influence by two councilors.”
Looking forward
Despite the challenges of the first quarter, Boldt, Olson and Stewart remain optimistic that improvements are coming.
Olson said one of the biggest challenges Clark County faces is trying to improve the culture of the county government as a place to work.
“It’s difficult right now because we’re still struggling at the top level,” Olson said. “It takes a long time to change culture.”
But “we’re just going to try to move forward,” she said, adding that she believes McCauley has already taken steps to improve the work climate.
Clark County will eventually be better served by the expanded board, Stewart said.
“I think there is so much better opportunity to get a more thorough discussion about important issues, from that collective knowledge and experience to get to better decisions,” she said. “There’s no time for begrudging.”
Boldt, meanwhile, said morale at the county is already improving. Among staff, there’s a sense that better days are coming.
“Employees at least feel there’s light at the end of the tunnel,” he said.
