By Pepper Fisher
PORT ANGELES – We reported earlier this week that a settlement had been reached between Clallam County and former Director of Community Development Mary Ellen Winborn. At the time, the conditions of that settlement weren’t known publicly, but we spoke with County Commissioner Mark Ozias on Friday and got the details.
A brief recap. Winborn announced earlier this year that she would not seek reelection in November. She then purchased a home in Mississippi and moved, with the intention of working remotely through the end of the year to fulfill her tenure as DCD Director. However, before moving, Winborn cancelled her voter registration for reasons explained in past stories. Doing so, as per Clallam County law, automatically disqualified her from holding public office.
When County Commissioners found out about it, they moved to have her replaced as soon as possible. Winborn disputed their decision, and so a legal settlement had to be reached.
Commissioners first said they wanted her job officially terminated and wages returned to the County from the time she cancelled her voter registration, approximately July 1. Commissioner Ozias says Winborn came back with a counteroffer.
“She came back to the County with an initial settlement offer which, in essence, was, “I’ll vacate, but I’d like my salary and benefits through the end of the year, the original course of my term.”
That offer was rejected. Winborn, through her attorney, then said she’d agree to being paid up until the time the agreement was approved, which would have been on or about October 15.
Last week, Commissioners went into executive session to discuss it and voted 2 to 1 to accept the offer. Commissioner Ozias was the holdout. He wanted to go to court and try to recover past wages the County paid out.
“My perspective, you know, this is a straightforward issue. I think that most elected officials, at least most of elected officials that I know, understand that they have to be a registered voter in the district that they represent in order to continue to qualify to hold that office. Personally, I felt that there was going to be more benefit derived from having a court affirm our understanding of the law. But, you know, again, the three of us don’t always agree on everything all the time. And so, at this point, we have finality.”