By Pepper Fisher
PORT ANGELES – Clallam County and former Director of Community Development Mary Ellen Winborn have resolved their dispute in which the Prosecutor sought to have her office officially vacated and the County sought the return of wages paid to her, effective July 1.
The dispute arose in July after County officials learned that Winborn cancelled her voter registration in Clallam County. She did so after moving to Mississippi in the spring with the intention of working mostly from her new home through the end of the year to fulfill her tenure as Director. But Prosecutor Mark Nichols cited a county law that reads, “an elective office shall become vacant when an elected officer ceases to be a legally registered voter of the county from which she has been elected.”
Nichols filed a quo warranto action, asking the court to issue a judgement of ouster, and he got it. He spoke to us of the matter on Wednesday.
“And so, at this point, there is no longer any question, but that the office of the Director of Community Development is, in fact, vacant. Fortunately, we have an upcoming November general election and so the community is going to learn together the identity of the next director. I think the takeaway for myself and any other elected official, and not just in Clallam County, but the state of Washington, is make sure you know the requirements of being an elected official and maintain compliance with them throughout the duration of your term.”
The other side of the dispute was brought forth by the County when they moved to have Winborn removed from office, retroactive to July 1, that all wages since that time be returned to the County, and they wanted a restraining order to be granted immediately preventing her from accessing official computers, phones and email related her job.
Winborn had 20 days to respond to the summons by stating her defense in writing as to why she should not be removed from office.
Nichols acknowledged that the County and Winborn had reached a settlement but wouldn’t comment on the outcome. We reached out to County Administrator Rich Sill for comment but had not heard back by airtime.