The Board of Island County Commissioners met in Special Session on Friday, April 4, 1997, at 9:30 a.m., in the Island County Courthouse Annex, Basement Hearing Room I, Coupeville, Wa. Commissioners Mike Shelton, Wm. L. McDowell and Tom Shaughnessy were present. About 8 to 10 individuals were present in the audience during the meeting. E. Meyer, Secy. to the Board, served as deputy clerk inasmuch as Margaret Rosenkranz, the Interim Auditor/Clerk of the Board, was a candidate for the position of Auditor and being interviewed this date.

The purpose of the Special Session was to provide the Board an opportunity to interview the three candidates for appointment as Island County Auditor as selected by the Island County Republican Central Committee by letter dated March 14, 1997.

As the notice of special session indicated, Chairman Shelton reminded that the Board may also conduct an Executive Session as allowed under R.C.W. 42.30.110(1)(h), to evaluate the qualifications of candidates for appointment to elective office, and may subsequently announce at open public session the individual selected for the position.

Interviews were conducted as follows:

9:30 a.m. Suzanne Sinclair

10.00 a.m. Margaret Rosenkranz

10:30 a.m. Grant Jones

Each candidate provided brief opening comments related to background and qualifications and responded to a variety of questions from Board members, such as:

• Biggest challenge facing Island County today? Biggest challenge facing the Auditor’s Office?

• Are you prepared to undertake running for the Office this Fall?

• County government under the commission form of government is made up of a combination of elected officials, each with some specific responsibilities. How do you see the elected auditor fitting in the overall function of county government?

• How do you feel about professional organizations such as Washington State County Officials Association, and within that group, an organization of the 39 county auditors; would you participate?

• Who is the best qualified for the job?

Having concluded the public interviews of the three candidates, the Board recessed into executive session to evaluate their qualifications. The Chairman anticipated the executive session would last approximately one-half hour, after which the Board would come back in open public session to either announce the successful candidate or the date when the name of the successful candidate would be announced.

Reconvening in open public session on conclusion of the executive session, Chairman Shelton stated that the Republican Central Committee had delivered a slate of candidates all which were extremely qualified for the position of auditor. He announced that after listening to the three highly qualified candidates the Board was evenly split regarding which of the three were best qualified for the position. Therefore, the Board decided to continue with Margaret Rosenkranz who is currently acting as Auditor and who has been the Chief Deputy Auditor for the past eleven years. Because of her familiarity with the job, the Board felt this would be the least disruptive course of action for the County and allow the voters this Fall to elect someone to serve out the remainder of Art Hyland’s term (at that point, only one more year; the next "full term auditor" [4 years] will be elected at the November, 1998 election.)

Meeting adjourned at 11:35 a.m. Next Regular Session: April 7, 1997 @ 9:30 a.m.

BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS

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Mike Shelton, Chairman

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Wm. L. McDowell, Member

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ATTEST: Tom Shaughnessy, Member

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Deputy for Margaret Rosenkranz, Interim

CountyAuditor & Ex-Officio Clerk of the Board

*****************************************************************************************************ISLAND COUNTY COMMISSIONERS - MINUTES OF MEETING

The Board of Island County Commissioners (including Diking Improvement District #4) met in Regular Session on April 7, 1997 beginning at 9:30 a.m., in the Island County Courthouse Annex, Hearing Room, Coupeville, Wa. Mike Shelton, Chairman and Wm. L. McDowell, Member, were present. Not present was Tom Shaughnessy, member, who was attending a conference out of the area. Also in attendance were Margaret Rosenkranz, Auditor/Clerk of the Board, and E. Meyer, Secy. to the Board. Minutes from the meetings of March 10, 17 and 24, 1997, were approved and signed.

The following vouchers/warrants were approved for payment by unanimous motion of the Board:

Voucher (War.) #176 - #477.......................................................$382,029.24.

(County changed banks and started warrant numbers from zero and the numbers here are correct as stated).

Veterans Assistance Fund: [emergency financial assistance to certain eligible veterans; the names and specific circumstances are maintained confidential].

Claim V97-14 $3,510.42 No majority recommendation from the Veterans Assistance Review Committee (VARC); four members recommend approval for different amounts and one member made no recommendation. The Board, by unanimous motion, approved the claim in the amount of $1,827.24 to cover all utility bills including electricity, and only the interest portion of the car payment.

Claim V97-15 $1937.47 No majority recommendation from VARC. Two members recommend denial; 2 members recommend returning claim to Service Officer for further information and one member made no recommendation. In this case, the Board took no action approving or denying the claim, and instead, returned the claim to the service officer for more information, including detailed, itemized accounting of the bill and to obtain original bills.