With another full house at Monday’s Sequim city council meeting, members of Save Our Sequim (SOS) added to their list of concerns and grievances a list of more than 2,000 opponents of the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe’s proposed medication-assisted treatment facility.

During public comments, SOS spokesperson Jodi Wilke said the group obtained about 2,600 signatures of residents in and near Sequim and visitors, asking city councilors oppose putting the facility in the city.

“We’d think you’d listen to the people you’re supposed to be representing when something like this comes down the pike,” she said.

SOS supporters unrolled a scroll of the signatures while Wilke spoke.

Wilke said after meeting that SOS obtained the signatures at local businesses and through SOS members seeking signatures.

Their intent for the unveiling was for state senator Kevin Van De Wege (D-Sequim), and state representatives Mike Chapman (D-Port Angeles) and Steve Tharinger (D-Port Townsend) to see the list and hear their concerns after a work session where city councilors shared their legislative priorities.

However, Tharinger was unable to attend, and Chapman and Van De Wege had obligations after the work session, they said, and missed the presentation.

Wilke, who lost an election bid against Chapman, said the state officials don’t have an interest in Sequim because they left through the back before the public comments.

The public comment was timely as the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe held a private design unveiling for its medication-assisted treatment (MAT) clinic/healing campus on Dec. 5.

There, Brent Simcosky, the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe’s health services director, said the tribe plans to file the MAT application with city staff in the next month.

Currently, if the application comes into the city, it requires administrative staff approval rather than approval from the planning commission and/or city council because of the way the property on Ninth Avenue is zoned.

Wilke said SOS members are watching and waiting for the application but would not comment on their actions if the plan is filed.

“It’d be better for the community if we could resolve this before it gets too far,” she said.

“But my expectations may not jive with hopes.”

Other public comments were contentious as those for and against the clinic coughed or spoke over one another.

After the meeting, Wilke said “SOS is not against people getting treatment. We want the treatment to be appropriate for Sequim.”

With the Christmas holiday approaching, Sequim city council doesn’t meet again until Jan. 13. To speak with City of Sequim representatives, call 360-683-4139 or go to the Sequim Civic Center, 152 W. Cedar St.

Reach Matthew Nash at mnash@sequimgazette.com.

A pile of petition papers sit below a table as Jodi Wilke, spokesperson for Save Our Sequim, speaks on Dec. 9 about the group’s beliefs and research that a proposed medication-assisted treatment facility would negatively impact Sequim. Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash