The URL can be used to link to this page

Home My WebLink AboutCL09 2025 08 11 County Response to Allegation of No Staff ReportJEFFERSON COUNTY’S OBJECTION TO APPELLANTS’ ALLEGATIONS OF NO STAFF REPORT TIMELY FILED Page 1 of 5 Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney 1820 Jefferson Street/P.O. Box 1220 Port Townsend, WA 98368 360-385-9180 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 BEFORE THE LAND USE HEARING EXAMINER IN AND FOR JEFFERSON COUNTY MARILYN SHOWALTER and JAN WOLD, Appellants, vs. JEFFERSON COUNTY, Respondent, and ROCK ISLAND SHELLFISH, ROBERT CARSON, Respondent. Case No.: SDP2024-00006 JEFFERSON COUNTY’S OBJECTION TO APPELLANTS’ ALLEGATIONS OF NO STAFF REPORT TIMELY FILED COMES NOW, Jefferson County, by and through its Civil Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Ariel Speser, and respectfully submits the following response to Appellants’ allegations filed August 9, 2025 wrongly asserting that no Staff Report was timely filed. I.STAFF REPORT WAS TIMELY FILED A Staff Report was timely filed on August 5, 2025, per the set filing schedule. The Staff Report was clearly noted in the County’s Witness & Exhibit List and attached with a separate, clearly identifiable cover page. It was attached as Exhibit A – the very first exhibit for convenience and to make sure it was easily accessible. Given several documents were due that day, the County simply filed CA received 08/115 EXHIBIT CL09 JEFFERSON COUNTY’S OBJECTION TO APPELLANTS’ ALLEGATIONS OF NO STAFF REPORT TIMELY FILED Page 2 of 5 Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney 1820 Jefferson Street/P.O. Box 1220 Port Townsend, WA 98368 360-385-9180 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 them at the same time to help with document organization and management. Neither the pre-hearing conference scheduling letter, nor the Hearing Examiner Rules clearly state that the Staff Report “shall” be filed separately or give a detailed account of how the Staff Report should be filed. Moving forward, the County is more than willing to accommodate this request and ensure all Staff Reports are distinctly filed as “separate” documents moving forward. II. APPELLANTS’ ARGUMENTS LACK MERIT Appellants raise three arguments in their filing dated August 9, 2025. The County respectfully responds below: (1) Appellants continue to repeat the same argument alleging that the public have been serious hampered by inadequate notice and this is grounds for dismissal. This issue has been briefed at length by all parties involved. The extent of the County’s briefing should (hopefully) demonstrate its substantial interest and care in the public process. The time and resources dedicated by the Department of Community Development, as well as Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, should symbol a renewed commitment to engaging with this process on a more involved level to ensure the County is developing and maintaining a level of expertise that will benefit the public in this regard. This issue is now pending before the Hearing Examiner. (2) Appellants continue to allege County minimizes resident complaints. This simply is not true. As mentioned immediately above, significant time and resources have been diverted from other high priority and time sensitive matters to help invest in this process, in large part due to this case. Just as Appellants advanced their arguments, the County presented its understanding of the applicable facts and law accordingly. The fact Appellants perceive the County as “continuing to a make more errors” highlights a couple things. First, Appellants’ level of critique and criticism is unreasonable. While it is always reasonab le to advocate for fairness and due process, expecting perfection 100% of the time in CA received 08/115 EXHIBIT CL09 JEFFERSON COUNTY’S OBJECTION TO APPELLANTS’ ALLEGATIONS OF NO STAFF REPORT TIMELY FILED Page 3 of 5 Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney 1820 Jefferson Street/P.O. Box 1220 Port Townsend, WA 98368 360-385-9180 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 local government is simply setting an unrealistic precedent. Of course, errors should be minimal and work product should always be as good as possible. However, to continue accusing the County of somehow intentionally committing error is simply not a reflection of the facts on the ground. In this case, the Staff Report was timely submitted. There was no error committed. Jefferson County is a small, rural, local government. There is inevitable turn over in staff and occasional learning curves when new staff are on-boarded. This is a highly specialized area of the law and Community Development. This is not something that can be expected to be done perfectly immediately. By setting impossible standards, the process erodes into acrimony where there need not be any, instead of working together to problem solve productive solutions that are mutually beneficial and building towards a more resilient process. (3) Appellants’ third argument is again unfortunate because it reiterates a false narrative about the County. In this case, it was the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office – not DCD – who filed the documents on August 5, 2025, and did so acting in good faith. The Prosecuting Attorney Office’s is a small outfit and was simply unaware there had been a previous case ostensibly involving a similar issue. Had the Prosecuting Attorneys Office known that, it would have filed the Staff Report separately. The Prosecuting Attorney’s Office timely filed the Staff Report, clearly identified the document, and attached the document as Exhibit A so it was easy to find. Moving forward, the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office will “absorb” this request. Whether this results in rescheduling the Hearing scheduled to being on August 19, 2025, the County respectfully defers to the Hearing Examiner and can only offer a sincere apology and again reiterate that it was unaware of the apparent precent Appellants have set in their other cases. The Prosecuting Attorney’s Office was acting in good faith in timely filing and serving the Staff Report. Attached is an email that was sent by Laura Mikelson to the office of the CA received 08/115 EXHIBIT CL09 JEFFERSON COUNTY’S OBJECTION TO APPELLANTS’ ALLEGATIONS OF NO STAFF REPORT TIMELY FILED Page 4 of 5 Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney 1820 Jefferson Street/P.O. Box 1220 Port Townsend, WA 98368 360-385-9180 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 Hearing Examiner and the other parties to this matter that shows the 2025 08 05 Certificate of Service, 2025 08 05 Respondents Response to MDNS Appeal Brief FINAL, and the 2025 08 05 Witness and Exhibit List was filed on August 5, 2025. The second email is from Carolyn Gallaway to Marilyn Showalter and the parties to this matter stating that she is in receipt of the filings. The third email is from Ms. Mikelson to the Office of the Hearing Examiner and the other parties to this matter with the 2025 08 05 1st Amended Witness and Exhibit List attached. DATED this 11th day of August, 2025. JAMES KENNEDY Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney Ariel Speser, WSBA #44125 Deputy Prosecuting Attorney CA received 08/115 EXHIBIT CL09 JEFFERSON COUNTY’S OBJECTION TO APPELLANTS’ ALLEGATIONS OF NO STAFF REPORT TIMELY FILED Page 5 of 5 Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney 1820 Jefferson Street/P.O. Box 1220 Port Townsend, WA 98368 360-385-9180 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE The undersigned declares under penalty of perjury, under the laws of the State of Washington that the following is true and correct: I hereby certify that on the 11th day of August, 2025, I caused to be served the foregoing JEFFERSON COUNTY’S OBJECTION TO APPELLANTS’ ALLEGATIONS OF NO STAFF REPORT TIMELY FILED on the following parties via E-Mail: Jefferson County Office of the Hearing Examiner: Appellants: Carolyn Gallaway Hearing Examiner Clerk Carolyn@co.jefferson.wa.us Marilyn Showalter Jan Wold Marilyn.showalter@gmail.com Adiel F. McKnight Deputy Clerk of the Board, CMC afmcknight@co.jefferson.wa.us Attorney for Applicants Rock Island Shellfish: Jesse DeNike Plauché & Carr LLP jesse@plauchecarr.com Aimee Muul aimee@plauchecarr.com Laura Mikelson Paralegal, Civil Department CA received 08/115 EXHIBIT CL09 From:Laura Mikelson To:Carolyn Gallaway; Adiel F. McKnight; Jesse DeNike; marilyn.showalter@gmail.com; Aimeé Muul Cc:Ariel Speser Subject:SDP2024-00006 Rock Island Shellfish Appeal Pleadings Date:Tuesday, August 5, 2025 12:07:55 PM Attachments:2025 08 05 Certificate of Service.pdf image001.png 2025 08 05 Respondents Response to MDNS Appeal Brief FINAL.pdf 2025 08 05 Witness and Exhibit List.pdf Please see the attached for filing today in the Rock Island Shellfish Appeal. Thank you, Laura Mikelson Paralegal Lead, Civil Department Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office P.O. Box 1220, Port Townsend, WA 98368 Ph: 360-385-9181 Fax: 360-385-9186 All e-mail sent to this address has been received by the Jefferson County e-mail system and is therefore subject to the Public Records Act, a state law found at RCW 42.56. Under the Public Records law the County must release this e-mail and its contents to any person who asks to obtain a copy (or for inspection) of this e-mail unless it is also exempt from production to the requester according to state law, including RCW 42.56 and other state laws. CA received 08/115 EXHIBIT CL09 From:Carolyn Gallaway To:Marilyn Showalter Cc:Donna Frostholm; Jesse DeNike; Aimeé Muul; Ariel Speser; Laura Mikelson; Adiel F. McKnight Subject:RE: SDP2024-00006 072525 Appellants" Exhibit 13 Date:Tuesday, August 5, 2025 3:50:16 PM Hello all, I wanted to say that I’ve been getting all the emails related to this case, but am currently swamped and trying to make a pressing deadline today. As we are still short-staffed, I anticipate getting these exhibits updated for this case - and other cases that are on our plate as well – by tomorrow. Thank you for your patience. Once I have updated the exhibit log, I will email everyone, and the hearing examiner. Carolyn Gallaway, CMC Clerk of the Board/Office Manager Jefferson County Commissioner’s Office Office of the Hearing Examiner P.O. Box 1220, Port Townsend, WA. 98368 360-385-9122 www.co.jefferson.wa.us From: Marilyn Showalter <marilyn.showalter@gmail.com> Sent: Tuesday, August 5, 2025 1:34 PM To: Carolyn Gallaway <carolyn@co.jefferson.wa.us> Cc: Donna Frostholm <DFrostholm@co.jefferson.wa.us>; Jesse DeNike <jesse@plauchecarr.com>; Aimeé Muul <aimee@plauchecarr.com>; Ariel Speser <ASpeser@co.jefferson.wa.us>; Laura Mikelson <LMikelson@co.jefferson.wa.us>; Adiel F. McKnight <AFMcKnight@co.jefferson.wa.us> Subject: Re: SDP2024-00006 072525 Appellants' Exhibit 13 ALERT: BE CAUTIOUS This email originated outside the organization. Do not open attachments or click on links if you are not expecting them. Carolyn et al: Attached is Appellants' Exhibit 13 of Appellants' Final List of Exhibits I certify that I have sent the attached Appellants' Exhibit 13 ("Compendium") at the email addresses above to: Carolyn Gallaway CA received 08/115 EXHIBIT CL09 Donna Frostholm Jesse DeNike Aimee Muul Ariel Speser Adiel McKnight Laura Mikelson Signed this 5th day of August, 2025--Marilyn Showalter Marilyn Showalter 1596 Shine Rd Port Ludlow, WA 98365 (360) 259-1700 (cell) marilyn.showalter@gmail.com CA received 08/115 EXHIBIT CL09 1 Laura Mikelson From:Laura Mikelson Sent:Tuesday, August 5, 2025 4:19 PM To:Carolyn Gallaway; Adiel F. McKnight; Jesse DeNike; Aimeé Muul; marilyn.showalter@gmail.com Cc:Ariel Speser Subject:Amended Witness and Exhibit List - Rock Island Shellfish Attachments:2025 08 05 1st Amended Witness and Exhibit List.pdf Follow Up Flag:Follow up Flag Status:Flagged Please see and file the attached 1st Amended Witness and Exhibit List. Laura Mikelson Paralegal Lead, Civil Department Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office P.O. Box 1220, Port Townsend, WA 98368 Ph: 360-385-9181 Fax: 360-385-9186 All e-mail sent to this address has been received by the Jefferson County e-mail system and is therefore subject to the Public Records Act, a state law found at RCW 42.56. Under the Public Records law the County must release this e-mail and its contents to any person who asks to obtain a copy (or for inspection) of this e-mail unless it is also exempt from production to the requester according to state law, including RCW 42.56 and other state laws. CA received 08/115 EXHIBIT CL09