Commissioner and DRMT excludes citizens from meeting by Lois Krafsky June 11, 1997 Sequim, WA - “Please advise your members who frequently attend meetings of the DRMT (Dungeness River Management Team) that the DRMT has canceled its regular meeting which was set for tomorrow, June 11, 1997” stated the letter written to local land/riverbed owners. Clallam County Commissioner Martha Ireland, representing the commissioners, informed the members of Dungeness Valley Association (DVA) in the same letter that there would be an executive session the next day, where their letter to the commissioners would be discussed. Citizen Review received a last minute phone call on June 11 from a Tribal spokesperson informing the newspaper that the DRMT meeting was canceled due to lack of speakers. A meeting, however, was held the afternoon of June 11 at the Tribal Center in Blyn, where business was conducted by the DRMT, of which Ireland is a member representing the county commissioners. It was not an executive session. Citizen Review subsequently obtained an audio tape of the approximately three hour meeting from an attendee. At the close of the meeting while Ireland, team member Dr. Peter Schroeder, and facilitator Ann Seiter of Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe were discussing the next meeting, Schroeder said, “if we had a meeting next Wednesday, a full meeting, we could look at this as we have in the past, we’ve had other working group meetings with the executive council to determine the agenda so we could just pretend that’s what this was today.” He stated that they could put this on the agenda with the wild salmonoids and that would give them time for the policy deadline... “We need to make input with some type of policy by the 21st,” said Schroeder. Some topics of the lengthy meeting were: DVA’s letter; the restructuring of the DRMT; discussion about added membership on the team and how to draw from community members. Seiter attempted to review the history of the DRMT’s affiliation with the county. DVA had submitted a letter to the Team at their June meeting stating that they [DVA] had become incorporated under the name Dungeness Watershed Council. The DRMT had been using the name unofficially on their printed handout material, as well as placing the name on the Internet. The name suggestion had been previously submitted for the team by Ireland. When the large property owner’s group secured the name, Ireland publicly stated, “It was very immature, a very juvenile thing to do.” She also volunteered criticisms about some members of the organization and perceived actions of other citizens of the county, some of which were not related to DRMT business. Expansion of membership and representation on the Team was discussed at length with Team members Steve Tharinger, Schroeder, and Ireland taking the lead in conversation. Bob Martin, Director of Department of Community Development, whom county commissioners designated to lead a community ground water group, was challenged by Tharinger. Martin defended landowner requests for membership and stated that progress has been made with the community. Seiter mentioned the letters that were sent to the community for involvement with the DRMT and complained that many citizens who received letters from the tribe wrote back saying, “we don’t like your stinking process, we don’t want any part of your organization, forget it.” The meeting was adjourned with July 9 suggested for a public meeting
with the DRMT. |