By Pepper Fisher
NOTE: This story has been updated with a response from Caitlin Sullivan.
PORT ANGELES – The Port Angeles City Council’s appointment Tuesday night of a woman who lives in Kenmore, Washington to our city’s Lodging Tax Advisory Committee went against the objections of a very vocal group who opposed the move.
Caitlin Sullivan owns a short-term rental home in Port Angeles but doesn’t live here. That is, however, enough to qualify her to be on the Lodging Tax Advisory committee. She applied for the position of Tax Collector for the committee, despite indicating on her application a lack of participation in any of our community events, saying, “[I] am not involved in any events.”
Local residents pointed out that two well-qualified applicants for the position not only live in the area but have also actively contributed to the community through volunteerism and other efforts. Councilor Brendan Meyer agreed, and made a motion to overturn the recommendation from an ad hoc committee to appoint Sullivan.
“I think when you’re comparing people who have not volunteered for anything in the community, aren’t part of the community…I didn’t see anything exceptional about this one candidate that the others didn’t have three-fold of. So like I said, we have in the past overturned ad hoc committee recommendations without it being an egregious thing.”
But councilors Navarra Carr and Amy Miller, both of whom were on the ad hoc committee, defended their decision to recommend Sullivan, saying they thought Sullivan would bring a fresh perspective to the process of deciding which organizations would be awarded Lodging Tax funds. Mayor Kate Dexter did not want to stand in the way of their decision, but said she wanted to take another look at the rules in the near future.
“I’m not inclined to overturn the recommendation of the ad hoc committee. They put in a lot of time and energy, and we did decide that that’s how we were going to handle it. And so, I’m not inclined to overturn it with this motion, but I do think the questions raised by the community about the appointment are things for us to consider when we talk about what we want to see for the overall rules for boards and commissions when we tackle that in a month or two.”
After that, a vote was taken and Sullivan was appointed by a vote of 6-1, with Brendan Meyer voting against.
Sullivan emailed us on Thursday with this statement. “I saw the article about my appointment to LTAC and wanted to make sure you had the full context about my involvement in events. The LTAC application specifically asked if I perceive any conflicts of interest. Several people who spoke at the meeting against my appointment, for example, have events funded by LTAC which would constitute a conflict of interest. I do not participate in events as a host or organizer, which allows me to be unbiased when looking at potential funds applicants. I do, however, attend events locally and volunteer in the community. Best, Caitlin”