Family member won’t be eligible for town job
An “attractive” candidate for a job with the Twisp Public Works Department won’t be interviewed, after the Twisp Town Council rejected a proposal from Mayor Hans Smith to relax the town’s nepotism rules.
The council voted 3–2 on Sept. 8 against removing a line from the town’s personnel manual barring family members from reporting to the same supervisor.
Council members Rosemary Seifried, Molly Filer and Will Menzies voted no after expressing concerns about conflicts that could arise if family members work in the same department.
Council members Tim Matsui and Tim McGuire voted in support of the change.
Before the vote, Smith advised the council that maintaining the policy could expose the town to legal action.
What’s clear, Smith said, is that family members shouldn’t work together if one is assigned to supervise the other, or if the family members pose an “actual or reasonably foreseeable” conflict of interest between the family and the employer, according to guidance form the Municipal Research and Services Center.
“It’’s a little less clear, and potentially grounds for discrimination, if we prohibit employees from working in the town just because they happen to have a family member working in the same department,” he said.
Public Works Director Andrew Denham, who is about to interview at least four applicants for a vacant operator position, advocated for relaxing the nepotism rule at last week’s council meeting.
The family member of a public works employee who applied for the job appears to be the best qualified, Denham said.
“He already has certifications as well as CDL (a commercial driver’s license),” he said, adding that it’s “pretty costly to the town to train and certify, and license for CDL.”
“That would, on paper, make that applicant quite attractive,” Denham said.
Seifried outlined some of the concerns that can arise when family members work under the same supervisor. They could routinely ask for the same vacation days, or they could create discord on the crew if one of them is disciplined, she said.
Menzies said the cost to the town to provide a commercial driver’s license might be small compared to the potential for negative outcomes if family members work together.
“I think we do, as policymakers, have to think a little bit about the worst-case scenario,” he said.
Land sold for salmon project
A fourth property owner near the Methow River in north Twisp is willing to sell their parcel to Yakama Nation for a floodplain and salmon habitat restoration project.
The town council last week authorized Mayor Pro Tem Will Menzies to sign agreements with the confederated tribes that will transfer the 1.35-acre parcel to the town. It sits on the east side of Highway 20, just north of the Idle-A-While Motel.
Menzies is handling the contracts instead of Smith because the mayor is a Yakama Nation Fisheries employee.
The contracts limit the uses on the property to habitat restoration work and some low-impact recreational amenities, including trails, picnic areas and wildlife viewing areas. A residence on the property will be removed.
The current property owners, Jeffrey and Jeanette Beste, are the fourth in the area between the Community Covenant Church and the confluence of the Twisp and Methow rivers who have agreed to sell their property for Yakama Nation’s floodplain restoration project.
Three other sales closed in June. Jack Bynum sold a 0.59-acre developed lot for $468,500. Richard Diseth sold 4.18 undeveloped acres along the Twisp River for $400,000, and Peter and Jennifer Day sold two undeveloped parcels totaling 2 acres for $380,500.
Money for the purchases came from a $4.2 million Department of Ecology grant Yakama Nation received in 2023.
Some of the grant money is set aside for the demolition of buildings on the properties, and for planning and design of recreational features. Town officials plan to establish a public open space at the site.
Yakama Nation will need to find additional funding to pay for salmon habitat improvements in the project area. Those improvements would complement the 4,000-foot spring-fed side channel Yakama Nation built in the area in 2014.
Police hires
Police Chief Paul Budrow told the council on Sept. 8 that a police officer candidate with previous experience “is looking good” and could join the Police Department in the next couple months.
The candidate was scheduled to interview with the town’s Civil Service Commission on Friday (Sept. 11), Budrow said.
If the lateral candidate is approved by the Civil Service Commission, Budrow would conduct the background check himself. It would take a month at least, he said.
“I can go do the contacts because they’re all local,” he said.
Budrow hopes to put a second officer on the beat next year. Four entry-level candidates will interview at the end of this month, but if one is selected they would first need to go to the Basic Law Enforcement Academy for four months, Budrow said.
The police chief added that he may not hire an entry-level officer if there’s a long wait for the police academy. The new officer would go on the town’s payroll immediately after being hired.
“That could be a month out, six months out, a year out,” Budrow said. “So we’re paying for somebody not to do something.”
Roundabout
Recognizing the difficulties drivers have navigating the intersection of Highway 20, Glover Street and Twisp-Carlton Road, town officials continue to seek grant funding to plan and eventually build improvements at that intersection — most likely a roundabout.
The town has sought three planning grants for the intersection, but those applications were unsuccessful, Denham told the council last week.
Denham said he will meet with the Infrastructure Assistance Coordinating Council next month. The IACC assists municipalities in finding grant funds.
“We are actively trying to resolve that intersection,” Denham said.
In addition, Smith told the council he is pursuing funding from Congress for Glover Street-Highway 20 intersection improvements.
The town’s latest six-year transportation improvement plan, approved in June, provides cost estimates for the improvements: $420,000 for planning and design, and $4.5 million for construction. The project would include a sidewalk to Blue Star Coffee Roasters.
Pool update
Friends of the Pool (FOP), the nonprofit that operates Wagner Memorial Pool and is planning for its replacement, provided an update on the plans for a new pool Wednesday (Sept. 9) at a Twisp Parks and Recreation Commission meeting.
Leslie Freitag, who is a parks and rec commissioner and an FOP board member, said the nonprofit has not found a site for the new pool yet. They are focusing their search in the Twisp area.
“It’s definitely being worked on vigorously,” Freitag said, adding that FOP is lining up donors to pay for acquisition of the property.
“As soon as we have a site nailed down, we have donors who quite probably will fund it, is what we’re hoping and praying and counting on,” she said.
FOP is in the market for a five-acre site, although two and a half or three acres could work, Freitag said.
FOP has learned from multiple listening sessions that the public wants an enclosed, year-round facility with two pools — one standard, 25-yard lap pool and a smaller pool for water therapy and children’s swimming lessons.
Freitag said she hoped Wagner Pool can remain serviceable until 2030, to give FOP time to plan and build a new pool.
