SEQUIM — Members of Sequim Speaks and city leaders will be taking a second look at the citizens group charged with gathering public opinion about city government and issues.
“I think we have to rethink it,” Mayor Ken Hays said during a recent City Council meeting.
“I think we need to ask ourselves ‘what problem we are solving and are we dealing with it?'”
Hays said he and Councilman Erik Erichsen, who are council representatives to Sequim Speaks, will be working with the advisory committee that has experienced some turnover during the group’s first year.
Sue Weidemeier, chair, agreed the group should be working closer with the council.
“My thinking is that we need to focus on one thing at a time,” Weidemeier said.
“They really wanted to know about the downtown. That’s a really hot topic.”
Two new members
The group will add two new members at its 6:30 p.m. Oct. 26 meeting in the conference room at the Sequim Transit Center, 190 W. Cedar St. The public is invited.
Weidemeier urges more residents to sign up for Sequim Speaks by contacting the city at speaks@ci.sequim.wa.us or 360-683-4139.
Anyone who wishes to serve on Sequim Speaks who lives in the city or Dungeness Valley can pick up and drop off their applications at City Hall, 152 W. Cedar St. The application form also is available on the city’s website, www.ci.Sequim.wa.us.
Barb Hanna, city marketing and communications director and the new staffer working with Sequim Speaks, said the City Council would be considering the appointment of two new Sequim Speaks members when it meets Monday.
“The intent was to have a representative from the [Jamestown S’Klallam] tribe and county,” Hanna said. “Those two are still open.”
Four quadrants
Hanna said Sequim Speaks is divided into four quadrants of citizen representation — northwest, northeast, southwest and southeast — with a minimum of three representatives from each quadrant. Hanna stressed that more than three can belong to a quadrant.
City Manager Steve Burkett said he hoped Sequim Speaks could get involved in other city issues, including a critical areas ordinance and review of the city’s commercial sign ordinance.
Sequim Speaks quadrant representatives are responsible for listening to residents in their areas and bringing community comments back to the table, which are then presented to the City Council and staff.
Group’s goals
Sequim Speaks’ purpose and top goals are:
• To foster increased citizen input to the Sequim City Council and provide an additional communication tool for information dissemination to the greater Sequim community on issues affecting the area.
• To create a visible public, two-way conduit between the general community population and the City Council.
• To establish Sequim Speaks as a sounding board for other groups, such as the Sequim Planning Commission.
Sequim Speaks members serve two-year terms and may choose to be spokespeople for their neighborhoods.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.