City Council - Special Meeting

I will call this. Thank you. I almost missed that part. It is 5 o'clock. I will call this meeting special meeting of the city of Port Orchard City Council to order. If you would all join me in the pledge of allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Good evening. So first, we have asked for this meeting to clarify a situation surrounding Councilmember Fenton's resignation, which occurred during our meeting this past Tuesday. Following an executive session, Ms. Fenton said, I resign, which by state law operates as an automatic vacation of her seat. The conversation that led to her statement was in an executive session, the content of which are confidential. So neither the council nor former Council Member Fenton are able to speak about this, what led to her decision. Council Member Fenton has since expressed regret for her decision, which I believe is causing confusion in the community. and has the potential to sow distrust of this body. Because clearing up that confusion requires discussion of the topics discussed in executive session, I would like to make a motion in two parts for this. First, to allow council to incorporate those details into our public statement about what led to this resignation and clear up that confusion, I would like to make a motion to waive the confidentiality of the executive session. So Councilmember Morrissey makes that motion. Point of order. Sure.

Okay. How do we know that there's anything that happened outside of executive session if there are no minutes on it or no video on it?

Ask the question again.

Was it because what was said was behind closed doors from my understanding?

Okay.

So is that correct or incorrect?

At the time, yes, the door was closed.

Okay. So what is your statement? How was it not an executive session?

I believe this is an improper point of order. This sounded at first like a point of information, and now it's apparently an exchange. A discussion. Okay.

Thank you. You're right. Point of order. Something cannot be said to have not taken place in an executive session when the executive session was still going on and it was behind closed doors. The reason why OPMA laws exist for the public is so that this is a point of order. that OPMA laws exist for the public and so that things that are said in the public and not executive session, that they are said in a public session for the public.

At this time, we are going to adjourn and move this meeting into a Zoom meeting.

This is an unlawful meeting that should not be occurring. Point of order, this is an unlawful meeting that should not be occurring.

We are going to adjourn at this point and move to our Zoom session. Thank you. Eric, can you hear us?

I can, yeah.

Okay, well, we can't hear you, so I gotta fix that before we get rolling again.

I can just do hand signals, John. Don't delay it for me.

No idea what you said. We can see your hands moving, but we can't hear you.

Try it again.

You hear me? There you are, thank you. And then we're just gonna wait for the rest of our council members to join.

And then, Janine, just confirming, you can stay up in the recording room and assist the public. Will that be okay? Yeah, absolutely.

Do I need to stop the recording, do anything on my end? Okay.

Yeah, we're still live, correct?

Yes, on my end, yes.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

Is everybody at the camera? Oh, yeah, sorry. No, it's okay. Thank you. Fingers crossed. Let's see.

Oh, it's down there.

Did it change the room?

Eric, can you talk one more time? Yes.

Do you hear me now? Do you hear me now?

Yes. We got you. Can you hear us?

I do, I do.

I know enough to be dangerous, but okay, so why is it, I just had to do the video background, so I've turned off the blur.

It is down over here. If you go back to video in the lower left-hand corner, you can click that. It should be under set video and effects settings, go.

There we go.

John, I'm glad to be joining us online.

It's just another moment while we get resituated and get the rest of our council members online with us. We are not all in the same place. But if you just bear with us, we will be shortly.

John, can you hear me?

Yes. I can, Jay. Thank you.

For some reason, my video is not loading.

Then you can.

your video jack that's the back part i'll try front again nope and i've got no video just go sit in the chairs we know it's you uh do i need to be visible or audio you could blur that if you want

Video under Zoom, that little arrow. There's something with the, and then reverse camera.

No, that's where I'm at.

Anybody see how long this session's going to last? It's not an exact session.

It should do with the settings and switches.

It's not an exact session.

This is open and public. Then why did we come down here? Disruptions.

For our studio, 423050. in reserve. We can go into just a virtual setting if there's a disruption. That's what he said.

I'm sorry, Charlie and Brandy. So the video, this is not playing out in the chambers. Is that okay? That's fine.

The chambers were directed to be cleared. So if there's anyone there, it's not.

Okay. Just want to make sure. Okay. Thank you.

That's rear. So that's why I went to front.

which is obviously this camera here.

We're just awaiting one more council member who was having an IT restart happening. So we will get started soon as soon as he can.

I'm going to try my, this one, AB01.

Weird.

On the bicycle, nothing shows up.

We can hear you, Jay. Yeah. Yeah.

All right. Sorry.

It's OK. Thank you.

Jay, if you want to blur that, or yeah, turn off video. OK.

There we go. We're good. Pause.

Oh, when I do need my computer. Now I understand why everybody has a computer.

I probably have two of the same volume issues.

Volume issues.

They bounce off each other.

My computer, shoot. Okay. Well, maybe I can watch from here and then go to my computer. Let's see. Is it up already? Is it online? so I can continue watching it while I go get my computer.

The Zoom link that was circulated is available to watch. Is that what you're asking? Are you asking me? No, isn't it on all of our meetings on live for YouTube? No, under the statute, we go virtual only. Okay. On Zoom. On Zoom. I don't have Zoom on this. Virtual only. But you're in the room right now. No, because I'm trying to get them. I have to go get my computer. I didn't realize this was an actual meeting. Oh, do you need it there? So if you're worried about safety or do you need it? No, I need it. I need to. There's still waiting on there. Okay, trying to be still waiting.

Am I at a disadvantage for not having a computer? I don't understand. I don't think that we're going to worry about that. No, you're fine. Yeah.

I'll be nice.

Can Harry not go up because he doesn't have a badge? Is he still up there?

No, he's not up there. He's next door.

We are not. We are not.

We know she was asked to be here. Yeah.

You know, the zoom week was on the end of it. Yeah. Yeah.

So when I was in the zoom week, um, then when you, that was the end of your job, you kind of stopped. And then I got yesterday. I started to notice did not have.

Nope.

So, when you got yesterday, so there was 2 notices, there was the.

Quorum special meeting notice, and then the agenda, the zoom is listed on the agenda.

In the agenda, I was going to say, she's here to go to the chairman of Charlie. So, here, you know, you can set it for me here. Absolutely. Yeah.

oh hey we got council member canary but now we're waiting on council member deadman it was not working no it's the from the back camera i can't see this well that's why i'm not using it

So we're ready to roll.

We're recording for Ms. Archer and Ms. Dedman. I want to give time for everybody to get where they need to. They were here, we had them, but let's give them one more minute as they come down the stairs.

She's gonna attend upstairs. Okay. She wants her bag.

chairman okay well miss archer's back on i see mcdedmon uh everyone is present so we're going to move forward uh i would like to uh just remind uh everyone present that uh while we are in virtual format, Robert's Rules of Order still do apply. And if you don't abide by those rules, remember that there could be repercussions up to including censure at that time. So I believe at the time I was in the middle of making a motion to waive the confidentiality of an executive session from Tuesday. So there is a motion on the table from Council Member Morrissey. I'll second it. We have a second from Council Member Trenary. Any discussion? Hearing none, I'll call for the question. All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

All those opposed, nay. The motion carries unanimously. Second, I would like to make a motion to adopt the following proposed public statement. By council, the statement is the city council acknowledges that former council member Fenton tendered oral resignation during the meeting on June 16th, 2026. Although the council member later expressed regret regarding that resignation, it became effective by operation of law upon being made. We thank council member Fenton for her service to our community and wish her well. The council further notes that former council member made this choice would face with the possibility of an investigation into multiple allegations of misconduct levied against her related to her alcohol use. To be clear, these allegations had not yet been adjudicated and the council had not reached any conclusions regarding their validity at the time she chose to resign. the resignation now effective the council recognized the seat as vacant and will proceed according to all applicable laws and procedures for filing vacancies i call for approval of said statement to be issued to the public second how do i since you made a motion i have to i can be able to make a statement right to the motion So I'll get there. Thank you for your hand raised. Council Member Morrissey, the motion. Council Member Warden had a second. Is there any discussion? Council Member Rosa Pepe, I saw your hand up first.

I'll wait my turn. I was checking to make sure that worked.

Okay. I saw Council Member Warden's up second. Council Member Warden? You're right.

Yes. No, I second your motion.

Oh, OK. Thank you. Thank you.

That way a conversation can start. Perfect.

OK. And then, Ms. Steadman, I hear you have a statement.

I do. I'm going to start off by reading an email I sent to the city attorney this morning regarding this issue. Ms. Archer, please note that I'm including Councilmember Fenton for transparency so there can be no confusion given that I was in the executive session when the alleged resignation took place. I've included her personal email address because she has stated that her access to her city email has been restricted. I'm writing to express serious concerns regarding the scheduling of tonight's special meeting to discuss the alleged resignation of Council Member Fenton and the filling of her seat. Following a conversation with Council Member Fenton, she shared the email in which you tendered her oral resignation based on statements made during executive session. The next morning, she clarified to both you and the mayor that she had not resigned. Despite this timely clarification, a meeting was still called at the request of three council members to address a purported vacancy. Based on these facts, the assertion of an oral resignation and the subsequent calling of tonight's meeting appear to rely entirely on disclosures from a closed executive session. As you know, RCW 42.23.070 mandates strict confidentiality regarding executive sessions. If confidential proceedings were used outside of that session to initiate a public vacancy process, it would constitute a severe ethical violation and a breach of fiduciary duty to this governing body. Because Councilmember Fenton has formally stated that she did not resign, there is no lawful vacancy. Consequently, the legal basis for tonight's meeting is highly questionable, as is your ability to continue serving as an impartial legal advisor to the city on this matter. Please be advised that I tend to raise these specific points at tonight's meeting. Furthermore, given the gravity of the potential statutory violations, I plan to submit a formal complaint to the State Bar Association. Also, it was brought to my attention that even if there were an executive session in which I know that now that confidentiality has been waived, that before I left the meeting, you explicitly stated that you were going to ask her to resign, that is an improper executive session. the city attorney should have stopped that executive session at that time and there should have been no discussion on it so that is a violation of opma laws thank you thank you uh mr archer

It's unfortunate you've chosen to make a statement of allegation against a government officer in a government meeting. I can simply respond by saying you've been provided with legal analysis that explains how the resignation was proper and valid. At no time did I tender a resignation as city attorney. That's simply not a fact. Ms. Fenton provided an oral resignation to all of the council members who were present. You were not included because you had left the executive session. It's unfortunate that you have chosen to take this approach, and it is in fact a violation of your fiduciary duty to be levying allegations of such a significant weight against the city. it's really unfortunate i have done my best to try to build a working relationship with you and build your trust in me um and the fact that you are so distrustful of me is incredibly and professionally sad for me so you know to the extent i i've tried my best um you know that's all i can do i've levied uh the advice i have to the city council about how uh resignation is an operation of law as soon as it's said it's done we don't have an option of waving or otherwise undermining that she could absolutely be reacquainted by this council in that cycle but she is not the resignation is effective immediately so you know it's unfortunate you've taken this approach um but i i just want to say everything that i have said and done in this process has been based in law um and you know i i i can only uh hope for an improvement in our relationship thank you miss archer

Uh, you know, I, I will further add, uh, after receiving that email, um, and, and processing it, uh, uh, this body had decided to seek further counsel. I believe, uh, council member Dedman, you were provided legal counsel, uh, uh, for the basis of this, uh, uh, uh, resignation by outside counsel outside of Ms. Archer. um and and we're providing are you waving the right to what was dead excuse me miss stedman you have not been recognized point of order are you are you waving the right you still haven't been recognized point of order and when i recognize you then you can no no that's not right that's not how robert rules works point of order

Yes, it is how they were. If you're going to discuss what was said in legal advice, then I'm taking it that you're waiving this as mere pro tempore, that you're waiving what was said for the body.

You should not take that because I did not waive it. I was just acknowledging that you received it. So I did not acknowledge any of the information in there, only that you received it.

You sure did, that it was to be taken to keep holding it. I accept your waiver.

Either which way.

It's not a valid waiver under law. As an attorney practicing in Washington, you should know that.

Point of order, that was incorrect. I am not an attorney practicing in Washington, Ms. Archer.

Thank you for clarifying.

Council Member Cheneary. Yeah, I'd just like to make one qualifying short note. Um, council member Devin, you were not in the executive session. You had already left the executive session prior to us completing our discussion and prior to us asking a former council member of Fenton into the meeting to, to give her side of the story.

Thank you for clarifying that it was an executive session.

Indeed it was, until it wasn't. And so we will leave it at that. So there's a motion on the table. Any further discussion?

Point of order?

Yes, Jay.

I would like to make sure that we have this, if you would do individual vote, because being that I can't be seen, I'd like to record each one individually.

Absolutely. Uh, I will ask, uh, when we call for the question here in just a moment that the clerk, uh, notate that, uh, we will call you by name. Any further discussion hearing now, and I'll call it for the question council member warden.

Yes.

Council member. Yes. Council member Rosa Pepe.

Yes.

Council member dead. What's the question to approve the statement.

No, and I would like to remember that you just stated that there was a waiver of what the discussion was in the meeting and that nothing had been proven. Council has not been, council has still.

Thank you. Council member Diener.

Council still has not been given any information. We have not received a formal resignation. We have not received any.

Council member Diener. Yes. And the vote has carried. Thank you. I would like to raise a question and then we need another session to discuss possible censure.

Can I make one note on that?

You can before I move into that.

Sorry, I just want to clarify for the record again, because it continues to be raised. A resignation does not need to be written. It does not need to be formal, an oral resignation. And there's case law specifically from the city of Poulsbo about that out there.

Colesville occurred in a public meeting. This was a behind-the-closed-door meeting.

Point of order. Councilmember Morrissey is the mayor pro tem and is the presiding officer. Councilmember Dedmon, would you please wait to be recognized and not overspeak people? Thank you.

Thank you, this will be your final warning, and I will ask for you to be removed from the meeting should you step out of turn again Councilmember Dedman. Thank you.

So to turn back to your question, a motion to censure is simply a statement by the body that a member has violated the rules of procedure or the expectations of the body, which includes compliance with Robert's rules and adherence to standards of professionalism. It simply requires a motion, needs to be seconded, and is debatable.

That motion.

There is not okay with that being said, I will ask at this time that I'm going to turn it over to our city clerk who will now.

We just lost audio john. No. John, do you hear me? I can hear Eric.

No. Ms. Archer, do you hear me?

Can you hear us now? Yes, we can hear you. Mayor Pro Tem. Oh, excuse me. Hold on one moment. We have a background here. If you would mute yourself, Brandy. Just click your audio. Perfect. I'm sorry.

Yeah, because she's the student that you're still going to ask.

So you mute yourself. Try that again. Can you hear us, Eric?

I do. I can hear you too.

Speaker to speaker. that one can you hear us now can you hear us now and then yeah we can't hear you can you just use brandy's john can you use her her laptop for volume We've had a very, very tough.

No.

Yes. I hear you, John. Okay. You can hear us now. Yeah. Go ahead, Council Member Warden. I have a very important meeting I have to get to. This is very important as well, obviously. I am fully down for what the council decides moving forward with appointments and the process and all that good jazz, okay? Thank you guys very much. Thank you.

Thank you, Eric.

Okay, moving forward, we were moving on to the clerk. So let's hear from the clerk and then we will recognize any further comments after that.

So past experience process for vacancy is that the council will advise the clerk to post a notice in the official newspaper soliciting for resumes, statement of qualifications, as well as they will be providing Several little questionnaires. They have been open between a week to three weeks. It's up to the council as to when they want to hold interviews. Again, all of the interviews and the documentation is open to the public and public inspection. I can create the notice. In the packet tonight was included a sample advertising notice as well as four sample supplemental questionnaires. I also provided past interview questions. And the soonest I can do a publishing of the city's official newspaper would be for Monday. And you guys can hold it as soon as you want. What was the timeline you were talking about? Oh, so the timeline would be I would open it to the public for solicitation on June 22nd and hold it open until July 9th. That way I can incorporate it into the July 10th or excuse me, incorporated into the July 10th publication for the July 14th regular council meeting. At that time, you can choose to hold the interviews at that time. When you choose to discuss the applicant's qualifications, you can excuse yourself into executive session to discuss the qualifications only, and then come back and decide how do you want to move forward with that candidate. um last time we received this was in 2016 we received 10 applications four of them did not qualify as they were not in the city limits or they did not provide the required documents such as a resume or answer the supplemental questionnaire questionnaires council chose to interview all eligible applicants and we had six of them

Okay, thank you, Ms. Wallace. Can you turn, I think we can at least have our video on of us in here so they can at least see that we're all still in this room while they're hearing from us. Yeah, it's going.

Maybe not, maybe not, okay.

Well, we were going to try and turn that back on for you all, but they're all right here with me. We just don't have it on the big screen in front of me. With that being said, we don't have to discuss all the logistics, but I would like to go ahead and give direction to the city clerk that we move forward with posting this on Monday to have them do back by.

That was the last council.

That was the last. So we would like them. So if our meetings on the 14th, I don't have that calendar in front of me, but she wanted them ahead of due by the 10th. If we put it out there on Monday, the 20th, and they're due by the 10th, that should give you time to collate them and get them to council for review and potential first action on July 14th.

So clarify June 22nd on Monday for publication in

to the council on july 10th with the possible interview date to july 14th correct so i'm doing the math how many days open is that for interesting so uh there is not a motion just yet so i'm i just want to make sure that this is what everybody was understanding uh because we talked about uh several different things and she gave some history there so right now i am making the motion to go ahead and direct the City Clerk to make that post as of this coming Monday the 22nd for applications to be received back no later than July 10th. That is the motion on the table by Councilmember Morrison. There is a second by Councilmember Tenere. We may now open for discussion. Before I do that, it looks like we have clarification from the City Clerk.

Yes, Councilmember Deener's question was how many days would that be open? It would be for 17 days.

17 days and approximately three business weeks. Councilmember Dedmon.

Hi. For the good of the order, We're not in good of the order yet. Okay, no good of the order. Okay. I would like to point out that council members Morrissey, Trinary, Rosa Pepe, Diener, and Warden have chosen to continue and to usurp the will.

Is this germane to the motion on the table, Ms. Steadman?

It is. Oh, you're right. I should have waited to good order. I'll bring it back up in good order.

Okay. Thank you. Anybody else have any comment on the motion before us? Council member Rosa Pepe.

Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem. I went through this process last time and I found it to be very fair and not time constraint. So I fully back this motion and proceeding with it. I also believe that you stated that it was approximately about three weeks on that, which I think is more than adequate time. And so I fully support it and look forward to moving forward.

Uh, yes, I agree in in in past instances council member, they left it open for only 1 week. So we wanted to make sure that we reached the widest audience and had the top selections available to us as we move forward.

Miss Wallace, you had your hand raised and I just wanted to remind as part of the packet also that order to municipal code chapter 1 point. 06.040 sets the process for this as well. The only thing that it does not provide is timelines, so that the process that I described earlier is also codified in the municipal code.

Perfect. Thank you, Ms. Wallace. I do see Jay's hand came back up, so I want to check with him first, Scott, before I see yours. Council Member Rospepe.

Yeah, I apologize. I should have stated this. We've had this issue several times, not just with what this was brought up, but people being inside the city limits or not. It comes up all the time. If we can somehow emphasize it, bold it, it would save people some people some time. So thank you.

Thank you. Council member Diener.

I just wanted to say that I've been through the process. I found it also to be very fair. I think it's the right thing to do.

Thank you. Any additional questions on this motion? Hearing none, I'm going to call for the question. All those in favor of moving forward and directing Ms. Wallace to make this post, please say aye. Aye. All those opposed, nay. The motion carries unanimously, thank you.

Sorry, I was on audio, nay.

And one nay. Okay, motion carries. With that, that brings us to the end of this meeting. I would like to adjourn this meeting. Thank you for joining us.

No, I have a for good of the order. I have for good of the order. Do not adjourn this. It's for the good of the order. You guys chose to usurp the people.

Janine, go ahead and end all. Please. Thank you.