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A proclamation on immigration that consumed much of the Twisp Town Council’s time this summer happened by accident, according to the mayor.
“It was not intended for there to be action. Maybe I should not have put it on the agenda and just had guidelines. I didn’t think Council would act hastily like that. That’s what I learned,” Twisp Mayor Hans Smith told MVE.
“I wasn’t happy with that outcome. There’s a lot of things that happened that were a learning experience,” he said.
Smith said Kathleen Manseau, the liaison between the mayor and the interest group that proposed the proclamation, is his neighbor. Councilmember Tim Matsui acknowledged Manseau as a friend and neighbor in an email to MVE. When asked if he spoke with any of the organizers about the proclamation outside of council meetings, which would be within his rights, Matsui did not respond.
Smith said there were multiple resolutions that had been brought to the town for consideration and it was not his intent to adopt the resolution on the docket that fateful day on May 13. He brought the resolution to the town council to discuss guidelines he developed to evaluate the merits of bringing a resolution or proclamation before the council. Those guidelines included relevance and impact to the town and level of divisiveness among town residents. If a proclamation or resolution did not meet the criteria, it could still be brought to the council by two councilmembers.
Instead, the council skipped the guidelines and adopted the resolution.
“I wasn’t excited that they adopted it without diligence,” said Smith.
After Sheriff Paul Budrow expressed his concerns about the resolution, the mayor spoke with the town’s attorney, who expressed legal concerns with the resolution’s language that town employees had to abide by the Constitution, the interpretation of which is regularly challenged in court,
Since the resolution had already passed, the mayor aimed to rectify the document by removing any references that would put an onus on town employees to interpret the Constitution and replaced the resolution with a proclamation, which is symbolic and carries less legal weight.
“We knew that we had to change the language,” said Smith.
Tie Breaker Hinges on a Vacant Seat
The council was at a crossroads. They had a resolution that wasn’t feasible and two councilmembers, Matsui and Will Menzies, on the record supporting it and two council members, Katrina Auburn and Wyatt Lundquist, opposed. The tiebraker would go to whomever the council appointed to replace former Councilmember Aaron Studen, who resigned after moving outside of the municipality of Twisp following a house fire.
There were two candidates. Auburn and Lundquist favored Mike Liu. Menzies and Matsui voted for Tim McGuire, whose wife, Amy McGuire, signed the original resolution with the word “help” in the comments section. It came down to the mayor, who broke the tie with a vote for McGuire on the grounds that he is running unopposed for a council seat this fall and could hit the ground running.
Still, Smith wanted to get as much support as possible from the council for the revised proclamation.
“To get a majority to address liability concerns, they were going to have to compromise,” said Smith.
Proponents, Opponents Present Their Cases
Town council meetings filled with people for and against the new proclamation, but as the layout of the council became clearer, opponents began to outnumber supporters in the chamber. On the day of the vote on Aug. 26, nearly all the public comments were against the proclamation and the original resolution.
Even with the votes needed to pass the proclamation already at hand, Auburn and Lundquist fought until the end for revisions. Auburn asked for two votes, one to rescind the resolution and one to adopt the proclamation. That motion did not receive enough support.
Lundquist asked that the word “citizens,” which could be interpreted as referring to all citizens of Twisp, be replaced with, “Twisp elected officials were asked to adopt a statement proclaiming…” That motion did not pass.
In a single vote, the resolution was rescinded and the proclamation passed 4-0-1, with Auburn abstaining and Lundquist reluctantly voting yea.
Reverberations
As previously reported, 76% of the signatories to the original resolution lived elsewhere or did not state their town of residence.
Following its passage, Twisp resident Mark Edson asked during public comments on Sept. 9 how much money the town had spent on the proclamation. In a follow up call, Smith told MVE he doesn’t think the town spent more than an hour on consultation with the town’s attorney, which consisted of a private verbal conversation with Studen and a separate verbal conversation with Smith.
McGuire indicated during council deliberations that he would be interested in hearing from the attorney directly, but Smith said McGuire did not follow up with him. A councilmember who wants to speak with the town’s attorney would need to get the mayor’s permission.
Smith said the attorney did not have to do extensive research on this issue and the two conversations with the attorney lasted ten to twenty minutes each. The issue did take up staff time at council meetings during public comments and council deliberations, but Smith said he kept staff mostly out of working directly on the issue.
“I left staff out of it. I didn’t think staff should be involved,” he said.
Smith said he personally spent about 20 hours on the proclamation but admitted it “could be more than 20.” Emotionally, he said, it took a much larger toll.
“There are other things that I want to get done. It’s not just that issue,” said Smith.
“I am happy to give people time of day. If it’s unfruitful, I have other things to do. I would not have spent this amount of time if council hadn’t passed it. That was very frustrating.”
Reflections on the Role of Mayor
When asked if he liked being the mayor, Smith responded, “It has its moments,” before pausing and adding, “I really do believe in democratic principles and good governance.”
Smith has two jobs, one as a Habitat Biologist for Yakama Nation Fisheries, a position he has held for many years, and the mayor’s position. He starts his mornings as a biologist before putting on his mayor’s hat at about 1 pm. On Fridays, when the civic building is closed, he still comes into the office.
He works 20 hours a week at each job and gets a $3,000 monthly stipend from the town, regardless of the number of hours he works. The work ebbs and flows, but more recently it has flowed. Financially, taking on the mayor’s role has been a pay cut, said Smith, but it’s better than what former Mayor Soo Ing-Moody used to receive- $400 monthly. The stipend increased to attract mayoral candidates. At $400, no one could hold the position without a substantial job or being independently wealthy, he said.
Smith acknowledges lessons from the proclamation and is now focusing on other things he wants to accomplish and new items on the agenda.
“I enjoy the work. I want to give to my community and town.”
