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KPMPD president cleared at county auditor hearing
By Chris Fitzgerald
KP News
Key Peninsula Metropolitan Park
District President Paula DeMoss appeared at a public
hearing at the Pierce County Auditor’s Office in July,
following a “Voter Registration Challenge” filed by
local resident Mike Salatino.
Salatino said he became concerned
about the current residency of Paula DeMoss after
learning from a previous article that she had moved and
no current address for her could be located. He said
DeMoss’ general reluctance to provide information
prompted him to investigate her whereabouts. Acting on
information from an unnamed source, he set out to
discover if she still lived within the district. Her
Peninsula Light bill was sent to a Gig Harbor address,
and he observed her car at that address, so he assumed
she must live there, in direct violation of residency
requirements of the KPMPD.
When a registered voter moves from
one residence to another, according to Pierce County
Elections Manager Lori Augino, he or she has a
responsibility to notify the county so voter records can
be updated. Elected officials required to live in the
districts they represent are held to the same standard,
with potential recall consequences attached if they move
out of their districts.
At a video-taped KPMPD meeting on
July 10 preceding the voter registration challenge,
during the time allotted for citizen comment, Salatino
made two requests. He wanted the alternate resolution he
and Ben Thompson had submitted a month earlier regarding
commissioner compensation waivers to be considered,
saying, “We have not heard from any of the commissioners
and would like that resolution considered.” DeMoss said
she would address the resolution in her president’s
report to follow.
Second, he said, “It has been
brought to our attention that your president does not
live in the confines of the boundaries of the Key
Peninsula, and without going into details, we feel it is
inappropriate that she remain as president.” DeMoss
replied she did live on the Peninsula and that according
to state law she was not required to own property. She
stated her husband and children lived at the Gig Harbor
residence and that “my personal situation is not a
public issue nor does it affect my ability to be a
member of this board.” She indicated she was living in
her trailer on a friend’s land, and asked if he was
inferring if that meant she could not be on the board.
He said he had not been given that information.
Salatino’s “Voter Registration
Challenge” affidavit regarding DeMoss’ residency, filed
the next day, was then followed by a letter from the
auditor’s office, addressed to DeMoss at the Gig Harbor
address, with copies to Salatino and the prosecuting
attorney. The letter was notification of a challenge
hearing set for July 19, and offered an alternative: an
enclosed blank declaration form to simply update her
voter registration.
On July 19 at 10 a.m., DeMoss,
Commissioner Ross Bischoff, KPMPD Director Scott
Gallacher, Salatino, Thompson, and Peninsula Light CEO
Rob Orton met in a public hearing at the Pierce County
Auditor’s office in Tacoma. During the hearing, DeMoss
said she had acquired a post office box on the Key
Peninsula after the sale of her home, assuming that
would suffice, since her trailer could be moved at will.
“It was not an intentional
mistake,” she said. Recently, the person on whose land
she had been parked asked her to relocate after reports
of Salatino “looking for me,” she said. Some concern
exists that DeMoss’ privacy had been compromised by
Peninsula Light disclosures of her Gig Harbor address.
Orton asked Salatino if he would name the person who
gave that information. Salatino refused, saying, “No. No
need to.” In a later telephone interview with the KP
News, Salatino stated his information had not come from
Peninsula Light.
Orton concurred in an interview
that, after having attending the hearing and viewing the
KPMPD meeting video, he could not conclude the address
leak came from the utility. He noted that Salatino did
not, at either meeting, say he obtained the information
from them. Orton said that accusation has come from
other sources, and if it proves to be true, he will
“deal with it.” Peninsula Light is currently treating
the issue “as a complaint from DeMoss” and at press time
was waiting to hear from her. With public concern over
identity theft and privacy, Orton said the stewardship
of the shareholders’ trust is of primary concern.
At the hearing, Thompson suggested
the entire issue of residency could be resolved if
DeMoss simply signed an affidavit under risk of perjury
that she lived in the district. Auditor Pat McCarthy
replied the county takes voter registration information
at face value. “We have no investigative powers,” she
said, referring to DeMoss’ declaration of current
address. According to her statement, and a statement in
writing submitted by Bischoff, DeMoss is living in her
trailer on his land in Lakebay.
Regarding Salatino’s request at the
parks meeting for consideration on the compensation
issue, in her president’s report, DeMoss said, in part,
“The resolution (regarding commissioner compensation)
will stay as stands… The formation committee of KPMPD
directly stated the commissioners would not exercise
their rights to compensation. By Washington state law,
commissioners elected to a metropolitan park district
have this right... The formation committee may have
effectively failed to inform the community or the
community failed to understand the rights and legal
choices that the commissioners have.”
Commissioner Jerry Schick, who was
a member of the previous park board, originally
introduced the compensation resolution, and at the
meeting defended his decision to retain the choice to
receive payment. He stated he made a pre-campaign
promise to waive compensation, but has discovered the
commissioner workload to be substantial, and having an
impact on his personal life. He said he felt the
commissioners were justified in taking compensation for
the work they did; it was a personal issue. He
apologized to his constituents if they felt betrayed.
“It’s a very small (controlled) compensation (about 30
percent of the allowable amount),” he said.
Bischoff, also a member of the
previous park board, pointed out that during the
pre-election, none of the candidates adhered to any time
limit on the compensation issue. He noted those in
objection, Salatino and Thompson specifically, were not
the only ones who put time, effort or money into the
formation of the KPMPD.
Commissioner Kip Clinton,
unofficial secretary of the former park board, said,
“Metro (KPMPD) is a level above KPPRD (the old parks
board), in regard to legal obligations. It does require
more work than the old park district did.” In an earlier
interview, prior to introduction of the compensation
resolution, Clinton suggested that perhaps the community
would eventually need to be asked to authorize
additional funding, as the district matured. She and
DeMoss are the only two commissioners who chose to
formally waive their right to compensation.
©Copyright 2005-2008, Key Peninsula
News, all rights reserved.
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