The ongoing legal battle between the Town of Ruston and the Point Defiance Café and Casino has taken an interesting turn in recent court filings.

In a case of dueling motions for summary judgment – asking a judge to settle the issue without a full trial – the town and casino are squaring off over whether the courts have the right to interfere in the town’s internal legislative process.

The two parties are battling over whether Ruston officials failed to follow their own procedures when they voted to raise gambling taxes on the casino, which was the only affected business and already paid the highest taxes of any business in town.

The facts of what happened aren’t being debated, only their interpretation.

“As regards Plaintiffs’ ‘failure to follow rules of procedure’ theory, the Town admits Plaintiffs’ factual allegations in support thereof...” reads the motion filed on June 5 by Ruston’s attorney, David Britton. However, based a recent state Supreme Court ruling, the town is arguing that the separation of powers between the legislative and judicial branches prevents the courts even taking up the matter.

Called for comment, Britton said, “The motions speak for themselves. My policy is not to comment on ongoing litigation.”

Joan Mell, the attorney representing casino owner Steve Fabre, argues in a counter motion that the Supreme Court case doesn’t really apply and asks Pierce County Superior Court Judge Vicki Hogan to rule against the town.

“What they’re basically saying is, ‘We can do whatever we want to do, whenever we want to do it,’” she said Monday.

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Feel free to call me a nerd. There are lots of reasons: I buy books on chess, watch Battlestar Galactica and fall asleep most nights listening to dharma talks on my iPod. Recently, I read the budget for the town of Ruston line by line.

When I got to the section on money collected by the police department, a few items jumped out at me. It's small potatoes overall, but the percentage increases caught my eye.

First, what stayed the same: Traffic infraction penalties in 2007 were $42,736 and in 2008 rose to $44,066. For 2008, $40,000 was budgeted. For 2009, $40,000 was budgeted. Ho hum.

DUI collections dropped by about a third, from $6,370 to $4,196. For 2008, $5,000 was budgeted. For 2009, $5,000 was budgeted. Yawn.

Now the fun stuff.

In 2007, $1,615 was collected in parking fines. In 2008, $2,669 was collected. That's a 65 percent jump! (And more than two and a half times the $1,000 that was budgeted for 2008.) The department expects to collect $2,000 this year.

Criminal traffic misdemeanors (like driving without a license, I'm guessing) jumped from $4,660 in 2007 to $7,606 in 2008. A 63 percent increase. Police budgeted $2,500 in 2008, but expect to collect $6,000 in 2009.

The "other non-traffic" category rose even more. $1,804 was collected in 2007. Last year, they got $6,021 -- a 234 percent bump. They budgeted $1,500 for 2008 and raised that to $4,500 for 2009.

What does it all mean?

I asked acting police chief Sgt. Jeremy Kunkel that very question. He replied to my e-mail saying there may have been increased from older cases that were sent out to collections agencies. Other differences might come from conservative estimates used for budgeting.

(Photo: p_a_h)

As a journalist and a local resident, an experience I had today trying to obtain some of the most basic public records from the town of Ruston has left me, well, flabbergasted.

I called the Town Hall this morning and explained that I wanted to come down and look at the town council agendas from March because they hadn't been posted on their Web site yet. I was told that was fine.

Then I said I also wanted to a copy of the 2009 town budget, which was approved by the council in January. There was a long pause -- maybe five or 10 seconds. "You'll have to fill out a public records request," I was told. I agreed and said I'd be down shortly.

When I arrived, I was asked to fill out a public records request to even look at the March council agendas. I filled out the form and was told I would be contacted when my request was ready -- the woman who was helping me was informed by another woman in the office that they legally had five days to respond to my request.

Under the law, that may be true. But as a journalist I've never before encountered such a delay for such a basic request.

Where does that leave a citizen who wants to know what's going to be happening at the next council meeting?

Has anyone else out there run into similar issues with Ruston?

Update: I've received a couple e-mails responding to my post directing me to a couple of the Ruston blogs where details from council meetings are posted. My response has been that in fact, I wanted to look at the meeting agendas (and if need be the minutes) in an effort to verify some of what appears on the blogs, where anyone can write anything and present it as official.

And to clarify, it struck me (both as a local resident and a journalist trying to do my job) that to ask citizens to automatically wait five days to even look at the previous month's agendas from council meetings -- documents which the woman who was initially helping me seemed to be printing out and holding in her hand while I was at the counter -- was completely unnecessary.

Update 2: My copy of the 2009 budget was ready first thing Monday morning. By that time, I'd already confirmed the item I was looking for from the March agenda.

This is mostly a progress report on what new taxing authority cities and counties (and transit districts) might be getting from the Legislature this session.

The House Finance Committee on Friday approved on a 5-3 vote a measure that would let King County impose an utility tax of up to 6 percent on all utilities.

Senate Bill 5433 also would let the other 38 counties (including Pierce) levy utilities taxes in unincorporated areas, too, but with more limitations. Those counties could not tax natural gas and could tax electric service a maximum of only 1 percent. It's a 6 percent limit on water, sewer, telephone and cable.

And those taxes could be imposed on a councilmanic vote. That is, no public vote, just public hearings and then the county council or county commissioners could vote to impose the utility tax.

On the city front, they basically would get more flexibility in how they can use their existing taxes (or taxing authority) -- the sales taxes for public safety and mental health-chemical dependency programs.

They also get authority to levy utility taxes on the water and sewer districts inside their cities. Apparently, there are about 47 cities that get their sewer and-or water from a separate utility, 20 of which are in King County. Like Lakehaven provides service to customers inside Federal Way's city limits. So, if the bill passes, the Federal Way City Council could vote to put a utility tax on Lakehaven's service.

Edgewood and Milton in Pierce County are among those cities. So are Auburn, Black Diamond, Covington, Des Moines, Kent, Maple Valley, Pacific and Normandy Park.

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This will run in Wednesday's print edition, too.

BY Joseph Turner
joe.turner@thenewstribune.com
County councils are asking the Legislature to let them bail themselves out of their financial problems by letting local council members raise sales taxes by themselves and by giving counties the same ability to impose a 6 percent tax on water, sewer and electrical utilities that cities now have.

Most of those provisions are, or soon will be, included in Substitute House Bill 1147 and House Bill 2249, which were the subject of public hearings Tuesday morning before the House Finance Committee.

HB 2249 applies only to King County and its cities. SHB 1147 applies to the 38 other counties in the state and their respective cities.

Current state law allows counties to raise the local sales tax by 0.3 percent with a public vote as long as the money is used to pay for public safety programs. The two bills would give local county councils the option of raising taxes by that same amount without a public vote.
If counties do raise taxes, they have to share the money they collect with their cities.

Pierce County in 2003 tried and failed to boost the sale tax to raise $26 million a year to hire 100 law enforcement officers in the county and its cities. Voters rejected the proposal by a 59-41 margin.

In Thurston County, voters twice turned down similar tax proposals
State Rep. Ed Orcutt, R-Kalama, a committee member, was not pleased. He said HB 1147 would let council members impose taxes that voters already have rejected.

“You’re now asking us to change the rules?” Orcutt asked representatives of the Association of Washington Cities and Washington State Association of Counties. “Yes or no?”

“Yes,” replied Scott Merriman, deputy director of the counties’ group.

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The MV Rhododendron, which usally plies the waters between Point Defiance and the Tahlequah landing, has capacity for 48 cars. But it's going to be out of service for six weeks for maintenance and inspection.

The Hiyu has room for only 34 cars, so the Washington Ferry System is scheduling an extra run.

34-car Hiyu to serve Point Defiance/Tahlequah ferry route for six weeks beginning on Jan. 5, 2009

POINT DEFIANCE – Beginning Monday, Jan. 5, 2009, the 34-car Hiyu will operate on the Point Defiance/Tahlequah route (Tacoma to south Vashon Island) for approximately six weeks while the 48-car Rhododendron is out of service for scheduled maintenance and inspection.

To assist customers on this route, the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) Ferries Division (WSF) will add an additional midday roundtrip sailing. The Hiyu will depart Point Defiance at 12:50 p.m. and Tahlequah at 1:15 p.m.

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Ruston Mayor Bob Everding resigned Monday, a day before residents apparently voted down a measure that would transfer the town’s executive power to an administrator.

Entering Wednesday evening, 91 people had voted against the change. Sixty-six voted for it.

Ruston has 452 active voters, according to the Piece County auditor’s office.

“This shows that not everyone agrees with the way the council wants to go,” said Karen Pickett, a vocal opponent of the proposition. “The council still has a fairly strong base, but clearly not everyone agrees with all the changes they propose.”

Proponents of the switch said the job responsibilities of the mayor have become too much to handle for one person. Opponents were wary of adding another layer of bureaucracy, the cost involved and losing an elected official who is responsive to citizens.

Now it appears the town needs a new mayor.

Everding e-mailed his resignation letter to some members of council ahead of its Monday meeting. Councilman Jim Hedrick, who said he read a copy of the letter e-mailed to Councilwoman Jane Hunt, said Everding said he would serve through Sunday and would help the council find a replacement.

Everding didn’t return a voicemail Wednesday.

The council has the task of appointing a new mayor, provided the change-of-government measure ultimately fails, Councilman Jim Hedrick said.

“The only thing officially we have done is appoint Councilman (Bradley) Huson as mayor pro tem,” Hedrick said.

Everding served on the council until Jan. 19, when he resigned amid growing frustration over in-fighting between the members of the council and Mayor Michael Transue.

Transue resigned on June 2, saying the atmosphere at council meetings was growing increasingly tense. The council unanimously appointed Everding to the vacancy two days later.

Everding wasn’t showing any obvious displeasure with his position, Hedrick said.

“This is completely out of the blue,” he said.

Ruston voters appear to be saying “no” to a proposal to hire a professional manager to run town affairs.

In the latest results from the Pierce County Auditor’s office, the proposal was failing, 57% to 43%. This amid reports the town’s mayor has resigned.

The mayor of Ruston who resigned his council seat earlier this year and was appointed mayor after his predecessor resigned announced his resignation at Monday’s town council meeting, according to the Ruston Home blog.

Bob Everding, a retired college dean, gave no reasons for his resignation in the e-mail, the blog reported. He stepped down two days before Tuesday's ballot measure that aims to replace the mayor-council form of government with a council-town manager format.

Everding served on the council until Jan. 19, when he resigned amid growing frustration over in-fighting between the members of the council and Mayor Michael Transue.

Transue resigned on June 2, saying the atmosphere at council meetings was growing increasingly tense. The council unanimously appointed Everding to the vacancy two days later.

Steve Fabre, owner of the Point Defiance Cafe & Casino, followed through with his threat to file a lawsuit against the Town of Ruston over its increase in the gambling tax.

Fabre filed suit Friday in Pierce County Superior Court asking for an injunction against the collection of the tax increase, alleging that it will "produce great injury" to him and his business, and that it was adopted without due process rights afforded to him by the Washington State Constitution.

He says the tax hike is retaliation for speaking out against the Town for violating public disclosure laws, and for his action against the Ruston Connection.

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Ruston’s newest mayor is no stranger to the town’s political scene.

Two days after Michael Transue resigned, the town council appointed Bob Everding, a retired college dean who served on the council until January.

The five-member council needed less than 20 minutes of a special session Wednesday to appoint Everding, who was elected to the council in 2005 and resigned with two years left on his term.

“I worked with him for two years, and he did an awesome job as a councilmember,” said Councilman Wayne Stebner. “And there’s no question he’ll do an awesome job as a mayor.”

Everding declined to talk with a reporter from The News Tribune, saying he wanted time for everything to sink in before commenting publicly.

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Ruston Mayor Michael Transue resigned at tonight's Town Council meeting, the Ruston Home blog is reporting.

Ongoing tensions between Transue and the council have boiled for months and apparently ultimately led to his resignation. Transue had a year left on his term.

"Our town government is presently functioning neither cohesively nor in a fashion that benefits the good people of our town," Transue wrote in his resignation letter. "A hostile, rancorus and sometiems ill-manned environment permeates many of our Town Council meetings and study sessions.

"I have worked hard to guide this council and our community and to provide thoughtful insight, but to little avail."

The town's government has undergone much upheaval in recent months.

Transue fired Police Chief Jim Reinhold in January after he disagreed with Reinhold's handling of a high-profile case of alleged electricity theft and the chief's run-in with a Town Council member who requested copies of public records from the case.

Two days later, Councilman Bob Everding resigned with two years left in his term. In his resignation letter, he called the town's government "presently dysfunctional."

We'll have more on our Web site Tuesday morning.