An Ocean Shores resident filed a complaint with the Washington Public Disclosure Commission Oct. 21 against the Ocean Shores Library, alleging the library violated state campaign law when it provided informational fact sheets, published by the Ocean Shores Police Department, concerning ballot Proposition 1, a $12 million dollar taxpayer bond to build a new police station in Ocean Shores.

The commission opened the complaint on Nov. 1.

During the upcoming General Election on Nov. 8, city voters will decide whether or not to approve the bond, which will finance the replacement of the current police station, which was built in 1990.

In the complaint, the resident, Jane Shattuck, alleges the library’s distribution of the fact sheets amounts to a misuse of public facilities to support a ballot proposition, a violation of the Revised Code of Washington 42.17A.555, which states that “No elective official nor any employee of his or her office nor any person appointed to or employed by any public office or agency may use or authorize the use of any of the facilities of a public office or agency, directly or indirectly, for the purpose of assisting a campaign for election of any person to any office or for the promotion of or opposition to any ballot proposition.”

According to a picture of the fact sheet Shattuck submitted with the complaint, the handouts provide a list of frequently-asked questions, along with answers, all pertaining to the proposed bond. The fact sheets were publicly available at the north end of the library, according to the complaint.

A signature on the bottom of the handout reads “KMB Outreach documents,” “City Documents” and “Police Department,” along with the city’s website URL.

The Ocean Shores Library declined to comment for this story. Ocean Shores City Clerk Sara Logan told The Daily World the city believes the complaint is “frivolous and lacks substance,” adding the city also has a copy of the fact sheet posted on its website, which is “completely within (the city’s) rights to post,” she said.

Logan said the city plans to issue a formal response to the PDC by the deadline provided by the commission. The PDC gave the library a Nov. 8 deadline to formally respond, according to PDC spokesperson Debbie Cafazzo.

Shattuck accuses the library of “swaying the public vote in favor of the city” and complains the fact sheets provide one item of “misinformation” stemming from a discrepancy between language of the fact sheet and language of the actual ballot measure.

In May, the city passed Ordinance 1083, which put the police station bond on the ballot. Should the station not require the full funding from the bond, the ordinance states, “the City may apply remaining proceeds” to redemption of the bonds.

Logan said the language in the bond ordinance was verified by the city’s bond attorney.

Shattuck claims the fact sheet misleads the public by stating that proceeds “will” be applied to bond redemption, rather than “may” be applied.

The first page of the fact sheet reads, “The city amended ordinance 1083 to state that all funding that is not used for the Ocean Shores Police Building will be returned to the bond debt and not used for any other purpose.”

Earlier this year, the city council voted unanimously to ensure that unused bond funds would be redeemed, according to Ocean Shores Mayor Jon Martin.

“The council has been very clear that whatever extra money is not spent will be going to the redemption of the bond,” Martin said in a phone call with The Daily World Wednesday.

The PDC “is committed to providing timely and impartial investigations of complaints concerning alleged violations of Washington’s campaign finance and disclosure laws” with a goal of enhancing “the public’s confidence in the political process and elected officials,” according to the PDC website.