Guest Opinion
Alice L. Coleman

A contrast in personal perspectives is obvious when you read the article in the Nov. 17 Gazette from Bob Spinks, former Sequim Police chief — who was also honored in the same paper by other law enforcement entities — and the accolades by three of our city councilors to the man who fired him, City Manager Steve Burkett.

Spinks is reminding us of the 12 percent of Sequim citizens who are living below the poverty level and should not be forgotten, those folks we should make every possible effort to help ease the pain of poverty. There are many ways to help these people a little, by the city using some of our tax money to subsidize their utilities, donating money to the food bank, giving them bus vouchers so they can get to the food bank, making sure they have heat in the winter, etc., etc. 

On the other hand, Burkett is spending our tax money by hiring a new city employee to do the part of his job the council says he needs to do more of, “to outreach more to other agencies such as the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe and communicate accomplishments and information to the public better.” Why can’t Mr. Burkett have a meeting with the tribes and manage to direct communications about his own “accomplishments?”

Hello?? We’re a very small town and all of our elected and appointed officials are expected to wear many hats and just get the job done without hiring new personnel or outsourcing things. That salary of this new employee would have helped a lot of poor folks through the winter. Is he so overly burdened by the requirements of a small town like Sequim that he can’t do his job(s)?

I also find it so extremely interesting that in such a small town the city council feels the need to have a “committee” to filter things between the citizens and the council; and it seems every time there is a decision to be made they pay thousands of dollars to have an “expert consultant” come in and do a “study” and make the decisions for them, using our taxpayer dollars to pay for it all.

Whatever happened to common sense and everyone putting their heads together and getting the job done? Surely in the council there is enough wisdom between the lot of them that they can handle making decisions for the city without hiring consultants. Also, if they can’t figure things out themselves, there is so much expert knowledge retired here in Sequim that if they needed an expert opinion on nearly any topic, they could easily get it if they reached out.

Alice L. Coleman lives in Sequim.