SEQUIM — The Sequim City Council will hold a special meeting on Thursday at 3:00 p.m.
The meeting will begin with a closed Executive Session and continue with a session for Sequim City Council members to discuss any items of importance to the community, but it’s acknowledged that the meeting was called primarily to discuss the Medical Assisted Treatment Center.
The meeting was suggested by council member Troy Tenneson at last week’s council meeting to discuss the approval process of the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe’s recently-submitted permit application to build the opioid treatment clinic on property in Sequim.
Tenneson and an attorney representing SOS, a group that opposes the clinic, want the process by which the application will be approved or disapproved to be designated C2 rather than A2. C2 would put the decision-making process in the hands of the City Council, A2 would put it in the hands of City staff members, specifically in the hands of Community Development Director Barry Berezowsky, who spoke with us on Wednesday.
“Well, we’re in the decision-making process. We expect to issue a decision sometime after this Council special meeting scheduled for tomorrow afternoon.”
Berezowsky says the City has 28 days to make his decision from the time the application was submitted, which was on Friday, January 10.
Sequim council member Ted Miller has his own opinions about whether it’s an A2 or a C2 decision.
“Well actually, I don’t think it is as important as some people think. The difference is, A2 means the decision is made by City staff and C2 the decision is made by City Council, but we’re both under the same constraints. If it meets all the legal requirements, we have no alternative under Supreme Court guidelines but to approve it. So, in a sense, the City Council is almost better off if it’s A2 because then we don’t get all the blame.”
Again, the special meeting is Thursday, January 23 at 3:00 p.m. at the Sequim Civic Center. It will begin with a closed executive meeting and will be followed by a discussion which is open to the public. There is no public comment scheduled for the meeting.