LETTER TO THE EDITOR | County lawsuits are expensive
Published 2:34 pm Tuesday, August 25, 2015
Editor,
Most would agree that we could use a few more family wage-type jobs here on the South End. Seattle has a corner on the high paying tech ones, Everett the aerospace gig and east-of-the-mountain firefighters are in high demand. Our field of dreams, ironically, seems to be located in a court of law rather than a corn field. We currently have five unresolved disputes being argued in the hallowed halls of justice.
Longest running is the county’s attempt to secure public beach access at Wonn Road from an obstinate landowner who’s making good on his claim to delay this thing’s resolution until Penn Cove freezes over. We’re at four years and counting.
Then of course is the recent civil case filed by the family of a prisoner who died of dehydration while incarceration in our not-so-friendly Coupeville jail.
Getting less attention is a suit brought by the Ledgewood Beach community, claiming the county had something to do with that widely publicized landslide which devastated parts of that development two years ago.
The most recent pits our own county prosecutor against the county commissioners for hiring outside legal help to complete our Comprehensive Plan update. We’ve been down that road before when past commissioners hired a notorious husband-and-wife team to fashion a late and reluctant comp plan back in 1998. One or both of that team managed to stay on the payroll for many years, earning a few multiples of a six-digit salary.
A little more obtuse one is a county-initiated suit against the state Growth Management Hearings Board. This board first ruled in favor of a WEAN contention that a county fish and wildlife plan was inadequate. The county updated the plan, only to have it successfully contested a second time. At this point the county turned to the courts.
Do all these expensive proceedings contribute to the local economy? Are they sustainable? If Thomas Edison was right that necessity is the mother of invention, then maybe our friendly and innovative island community can grow and market an effective dispute resolution expertise rather than foot legal bills. I’m sure we could peddle such an effective alternative to other enlightened communities.
DEAN ENELL
South Whidbey
