Public Comment Response to the City of Sequim’s “Proclamation – The Year of Kindness 2021”

by | Dec 16, 2020 | Letters to the Editor, Sequim News & Views

RE: “Proclamation – Year of Kindness” presented at the Sequim City Council meeting on Dec. 14, 2020.

I would like to make it clear to the City of Sequim that SOS [Save our Sequim] is not the entity dividing this community.  The Developer and the City did that when they assumed the Citizens of Sequim, including citizens living outside city limits, would not care that a Mega Regional MAT [Medication Assisted Treatment] facility would be permitted without input from citizens and without the more rigorous scrutiny a C2 permit would require.

SOS has been accused of NIMBYism, but then why is this clinic not being built in Blyn?  SOS is accused of being racist because the Developer is Tribal.  This clinic would be opposed by the majority of Sequim citizens no matter who the Developer.  This Developer proclaims to be working in the best interest of Sequim.  It is not in the best interest of all the citizens of Sequim to have a facility of this size, costing millions of dollars in taxpayer money to build and millions more in Medicaid and Medicare funding, to serve a population of just 0.61%.  The majority of Sequim’s residents are 55 and over and this town lacks the facilities to care for that population.

If the City wants to declare 2021 a year of kindness, then begin by demonstrating to the citizens you serve that you understand their grievances, that you will discharge your duty to answer to the majority of the citizens that live in and around Sequim and not pander to the desires of a wealthy and powerful Developer.  Save Our Sequim has done nothing to harm this community other than to demand the right to be heard in a court of law, and to demand that the City follow their own codes (with the exception of those they may be intimidated into changing, mid-hearing, at eight o’clock on a Saturday night).

City Council members:

  • Do your own independent research
  • Know your city’s codes and your rights to enforce those codes
  • Understand your legal liabilities for serving. It is not to your benefit to rely on counsel that heretofore has shown disdain for your abilities and intelligence as demonstrated in public documents submitted to the Hearing Examiner.

City Council can wish away the year 2020 and wish for a kinder more peaceful 2021, but the City and the Developer are responsible for division in this community and it is on them to right the wrong that has been done to ALL citizens of Sequim.  Permit the MAT as a C2 Essential Public Facility and allow ALL citizens of Sequim to decide whether the MAT is needed in Sequim.

Gayle Baker

14-year resident, Sequim