First meeting after mayor’s resignation is relatively quiet
By Don Nelson
In the first Winthrop Town Council meeting following the resignation of former Mayor Anne Acheson, the most controversial agenda item was whether to install a flashing pedestrian crosswalk sign on White Avenue.
The council said “yes” to that idea, over the objections of the town’s Westernization Design Review Board (WDRB).
Mayor pro tem Bob DeHart presided over the meeting last Wednesday (June 7), which included council members Rick Northcott, Ben Nelson and Kellen Northcott. Mike Strulic was absent.
DeHart said the town will accept applications for the now-vacant mayor’s position, at Town Hall. The council plans to interview any candidates (including current council members who would like to be appointed) and make a selection at its June 21 meeting.
Acheson resigned effective June 3, citing frustration at not be able to get the council “moving forward” from the controversy over her February firing of former Marshal Hal Henning.
No direct mention of Henning or the vacancy in the marshal’s position was made at the June 7 meeting, although the audience for the meeting included about 15 people. The town has continued to solicit applicants for the marshal’s position. Four applicants for the vacant position have qualified to take the oral boards exam, the next step in the hiring process, on June 14. The top three scorers would then be eligible to move on in the process.
The Town Council contracted with the Twisp Police Department for two months of coverage that will expire at the end of this month. The town currently has made no other arrangements for interim law enforcement coverage.
Audience member Roxie Miller referenced Acheson’s resignation, saying she wanted to “express sadness” over the mayor’s departure.
“This comes at a difficult time,” Miller said. “I don’t feel the council should be making major decisions at this time. They should wait until there is a fully elected council.”
Whole new group?
That would be in January 2018, following the November general election. All five council seats and the mayor’s position are on the November ballot. Potentially, a mostly or completely new group of people could be running the town in 2018.
DeHart and Sally Ranzau have filed to run for Winthrop mayor. Acheson has filed for an open council seat and will face Kirsten Vanderhalf. Nelson, who filled a vacant seat in April, is seeking to stay on the job and is running unopposed, as are Joseph O’Driscoll, William Kilby and Bill McAdow. Rick Northcott, Kellen Northcott and Strulic are not seeking re-election.
As to the pedestrian crossing on White Avenue — which is part of the Susie Stephens Trail project the town is working on — Town Planner Rocklynn Culp said that the options are a “rapid flash beacon” sign, that would flash only when someone is using the crosswalk, or standard pedestrian crossing signs. The flashing beacon sign would be solar powered.
The WDRB recommended the regular, unlighted crossing signs because they are more consistent with the town’s westernization theme. Under the town’s recently adopted update of the Westernization code, the town is exempted from most compliance requirements.
Culp brought the question to the council for its consideration because, as she noted in a background memo, “both the Town Council and the WDRB have expressed reluctance” to use the flashing signs. The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) will allow either, she said. According to Federal Highways Administration, flashing signs can significantly reduce injuries at crosswalks, she noted in the memo.
The Stephens Trail is being extended from Little Star Montessori School to a crossing of Highway 20 near the Virginian resort. That crossing will also need some kind of signage to alert motorists to pedestrian use. “The Town has heard complaints about pedestrian safety in both of these locations,” Culp said in the memo.
Familiar objections
Nelson, the council’s newest member, said the choice of a flashing sign is a “no-brainer to me” because he has children who cross White Avenue at that location. “It doesn’t make sense not to have this technology if we can,” he said.
“It’s about why I want to live in this town, not why visitors want to come here,” he added.
Some members of the WDRB objected that the town was once again ignoring Westernization concerns and recommendations, as it has in the past.
Rick Northcott said he supports a flashing light at the Highway 20 crossing, but was less supportive of one on White Avenue. However, he said, “if you’re going to put one in one place, you might as well put it in another.” He abstained from voting; Nelson and Kellen Northcott voted in favor of the flashing light option.
The council also heard a presentation by Liberty Bell High School students Henry Jones, Simon Studen, Ben Neitlich and Jacqueline Larsen, suggesting that the town consider banning plastic bags at retail stores, and instead impose a small fee for paper bags that would go back to the stores. Some other municipalities, such as Seattle, have imposed such a ban. The students cited environmental concerns including litter, pollution, harm to animals and toxic affects.
DeHart noted that several people have fallen at the new pedestrian ramps at the four-way stop, most notably in front of the Tenderfoot and Three Fingered Jack’s, and that WSDOT will install hitching-post like structures to help prevent more accidents. A WSDOT engineer confirmed that at Thursday’s (June 8) meeting of the Winthrop Chamber of Commerce.
