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Healing Washougal

With abrupt resignation of Mayor Sellers, dysfunctional government can gain stability

The Columbian
Published: November 19, 2009, 12:00am

arely has an incumbent politician fallen so far, so rapidly as Washougal Mayor Stacee Sellers. Four years ago she received 55 percent of the votes and began her first term guiding Clark County’s fourth-largest city. But this year that support plummeted to just 26 percent of the votes on Nov. 3. Four days earlier, she had been censured by the Washougal City Council after a scathing report earlier this year from the state auditor, plus revelations of about $100,000 in unaccounted funds from city-sponsored events and charges of almost $700 on Sellers’ city credit card for food and alcohol during a business trip to Las Vegas.

After the election, Sellers went on vacation. Certainly nothing wrong with that on face value, but unlike previous vacations, she did not return e-mails and phone calls from city department leaders while she was away. That prompted Sean Guard — the man who had defeated Sellers with 72 percent of the votes — to predict last week: “I think we’re finding the epitome of the definition of lame duck.” And when asked if Sellers should resign before completing her term through December, Guard noted that “there are an awful lot of folks in the community who would just as soon see her take the high road and do what’s best for the community. If the last week or 10 days is any indication, it’s going to be a long six or seven weeks” before he takes over in January.

On Monday, Sellers did precisely that — what’s best for the community — and resigned by e-mail, effective immediately. Thus ends the meteoric mayoral term of the woman who dazzled voters back in 2005. In a Tuesday Columbian story by Marissa Harshman, Guard said, “In the end, I think (Sellers), hopefully, thought of the citizens.”

Credit Sellers with making the best decision for her constituents, to remove herself from the political turmoil in Washougal and give city employees and local residents six weeks to pause, collectively take a deep, cleansing breath and prepare for Guard to take over. Mayor Pro Tem Molly Coston will serve in the interim.

In many cases, the premature departure of an elected official is viewed as abandoning a commitment. In this case, though, Sellers’ resignation was best for all concerned. She wrote in her e-mailed resignation: “I have been given another opportunity that I would be foolish to pass by,” so perhaps the political healing in her community can coincide with Sellers’ own shift into a new, more positive occupation.

Notwithstanding 26 achievements in four years that Sellers cited in her resignation, as mayor she was the center of a dysfunctional government, and resultant challenges could linger for months to come. In addition to transitioning to a new administration, Washougal’s municipal leaders still must fill a key position, the vacant city administrator’s post. They must resolve the confusion and frustration related to the hiring of city finance director Jeffrey Bivens on May 19, nine months after his law license was suspended for 18 months by the Washington State Bar Association. As a result, the city’s insurance company declined to fully insure Bivens. This week city councilors required Bivens to obtain — within five days — fidelity bond coverage of $2.5 million per misdeed. The council faces a broader challenge in correcting problems specified in the state auditor’s report earlier this year.

In tumultuous times, people and cities find out who their real friends are. Paul Dennis, mayor of Camas, adjacent to Washougal, this week said his city is eager to help Washougal in any way possible. That kind of neighborliness could pay big dividends.

The people of Washougal need and deserve stability in their city government. Mayor Sellers’ resignation will help expedite the healing.

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