Hoquiam Mayor Jasmine Dickhoff made it crystal clear at the Monday City Council meeting: She is frustrated with Aberdeen Mayor Erik Larson’s progress as the two cities, plus Cosmopolis, explore ways to consolidate services.

“Over the course of three years we have discussed consolidating or using a joint finance director position, which was denied,” said Dickhoff. “We have offered to work with the mayor about working on his budget to accommodate the city administrator position and have (Hoquiam City Administrator) Brian Shay oversee both cities.”

Dickhoff claimed her recommendations regarding having Hoquiam Police Chief Jeff Meyers oversee both police departments have gone without a response. Aberdeen is currently without a longterm police chief, following the retirement of Bob Torgerson earlier this year.

There have been other instances recently where consolidation of services may have worked: Aberdeen City Counsel Eric Nelson retired Sept. 14; Dickhoff said that was a good opportunity to have Hoquiam City Attorney Steve Johnson take over duties for both cities. Larson introduced Aberdeen’s new City Attorney, Patrice Kent, at the last city council meeting. The same could be said when Hoquiam Finance Director Mike Folkers left for the same position in Aberdeen.

“But we got (current Hoquiam Finance Director) Corrie (Schmid) out of that so we’re grateful for that,” said Dickhoff.

“If I was a mayor anywhere else in this county and I was offered Chief Myers I would scoop him up in a second,” said Dickhoff. “I think it’s foolish and generated by a need to be right and do things his own way,” Dickhoff said of Larson. “When you’re a mayor of a city you look out for the benefit of your constituents and look for people with the highest standards to work with you.” She said it was her proposal to free up Larson to work on forming a Regional Fire Authority, which would consolidate the Aberdeen, Hoquiam and potentially Cosmopolis fire departments.

When asked to comment, Larson directed the Daily World to his mayoral Facebook page, where he posted a lengthy response.

“I am frustrated by the disparaging comments made by Mayor Dickhoff last night, and again today on local media (radio), regarding my commitment to my position and to doing what is best for the City of Aberdeen,” he said. “I believe Mayor Dickhoff is also frustrated that it has gotten to a point where she believes her comments are necessary. I suppose a breakdown in communication is evident, but I don’t believe it is fair to say I shoulder the blame for this. Communication is a two-way street and there has not been much of it lately from either side.”

Larson said there are problems regarding consolidation of public safety entities.

“The idea was suggested by Mayor Dickhoff that police and fire services be consolidated into regional departments, with Chief Myers and Chief Hubbard managing the new police and fire departments respectively,” said Larson. “However, current state law allows for only regional fire authorities, which are separate public entities from the cities they serve; and do not allow regional police services. State law does allow for one city to contract police services to another, however, and Mayor Dickhoff suggested that Aberdeen contract police services to Hoquiam and that Aberdeen take the lead on creating a regional fire authority. This was a non-starter for me and I communicated that very clearly with Mayor Dickhoff.”

Larson said in the agreement proposed by Dickhoff, the city of Aberdeen would pay $5 million a year to Hoquiam to provide Aberdeen with police services, but Hoquiam would retain “complete direction” of the merged department. The creation of a Regional Fire Authority would mean Aberdeen would lose control of managing the budgets for police and fire to Hoquiam, which is about 50 percent of Aberdeen’s discretionary budget.

“I do not support this plan due to the imbalance it creates for the City of Aberdeen and suggested we look at changing the law to allow for regional police departments,” said Larson. “I was under the impression Mayor Dickhoff did not support this due to the perceived difficulty in getting such a change made, but now I believe she may have thought it was an excuse by me to deflect the issue.”

Larson said he continues to look at a change in the law to allow regional police services and plans to push for a bill in the next legislative session to do that.

“I look forward to hopefully having more meaningful conversations in the future if the case can be resolved,” said Larson.

As far as department head positions, “I have not brought the issue to Mayor Dickhoff because I do not believe there is any ability for one person to manage both cities’ departments,” he said. “I have actually added a City Engineer position to un-consolidate the Public Works Department and allow the city of Aberdeen to provide better service to the public and manage more improvement projects. In fact, the City of Hoquiam has relied very heavily on Aberdeen’s staffing capacity to help with managing the North Shore Levee project, something we are happy to provide in order to support such an important project.”

Larson ended by saying he was frustrated by the highly publicized airing of Dickhoff’s statements, he said he is still willing to work with Hoquiam on other joint efforts.

“While I am again frustrated by the accusations, I am still willing to continue discussing opportunities like creating a regional wastewater treatment facility or creating an interlocal mechanic service managed by both cities,” he said. “Regardless of what my counter-part may believe, I do have the best interests of the community in mind.