Port Townsend: Appointments issue splits council

PORT TOWNSEND — City Councilman Geoff Masci Monday accused his fellow council members of attempting to stack the city Planning Commission by suggesting raising membership from seven to 11.

“Now we have four new City Council members and now they suddenly want to increase the Planning Commission,” Masci said.

“This can be construed as a political effort to stack the deck.”

But acting Mayor Kees Kolff denied that intent.

“People can make anything look as they want,” Kolff said. “There are a number of good reasons to expand the Planning Commission as we consider the five-year update of the Comprehensive Plan.

“We can strengthen the Planning Commission by making it large enough and representative of this community.”

Planning Commission Vice Chairman Jerry Spieckerman told the council that he favored a nine-member board if the council chose to boost the membership.

The council was sitting in work session, so could not take action at Monday’s meeting.

The rest of this story appears in today’s Peninsula Daily News. Click on “Subscribe” to get the PDN delivered to your home or office.

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