The city of Aberdeen will take a closer look at a set of applications for 2024 tourism funding to decide whether future contracts would constitute a conflict of interest for elected officials involved with local groups requesting lodging tax dollars.

The decision was driven by a request from some Aberdeen City Council members who say they want more information before awarding a pair of grants to an art group led by incoming Mayor Douglas Orr, who was sworn in Dec. 20 and will take the helm in January.

That issue put the council at odds during a Dec. 20 meeting, with six of its members voting to send recommended grant awards for the Harbor Art Guild back to a committee for more consideration, and four council members dissenting.

Orr serves as president on the Harbor Art Guild’s board of directors.

The city council’s Dec. 20 meeting agenda contained a set of recommendations from the city’s Lodging Tax Advisory Committee, the body that evaluates applications from local groups to use city lodging tax dollars — garnered from visitor stays at hotels, motels and short-term rentals — for events or initiatives that encourage tourism. The five-member committee by state law, is comprised of the city’s finance committee chair, in this case Debi Pieraccini, plus two representatives of lodging tax businesses and two representatives of groups receiving the funds.

The committee reviewed 13 applications for lodging tax funds, a total request of about $137,000. The city budgeted $90,000 for lodging tax in 2024, and the committee recommended about $66,000 in total grant awards.

Those were presented to the city council in two separate reports: $10,500 for two community events planned by Orr’s nonprofit Harbor Art Guild, and the remaining $55,000 among eight other applications.

The applications were considered separately because, in most cases, Washington state law prohibits elected officials from entering contracts from which they might benefit. The law states that “no municipal officer shall be beneficially interested, directly or indirectly, in any contract which may be made by, through or under the supervision of such officer, in whole or in part.”

State law permits an exception if an official’s interest is “remote,” if they notify the city of their potential conflict, and if they refrain from voting on the contract themselves. Remote interests include “that of a non-salaried officer of a nonprofit corporation.”

But Councilmember Stan Sidor made a motion to send Harbor Art Guild’s applications back to the lodging tax committee in order to address questions and issues before approval.

“We want to address the issues that have come up that relate to potential conflict of interest,” Sidor said. “We have some opinion from our council that there’s a difference between state law and our city code or city charter, and we want to look into that a little further.”

According to Aberdeen Mayor Pete Schave, “all the rules of the city in this type of a situation point towards an operating city conflict, and the person that put in this application is not operating.” Orr submitted lodging tax applications on Oct. 15 and Oct. 17. He wasn’t certified as the next mayor of Aberdeen until December after a ballot recount affirmed his four-vote win. He took the mayor’s oath of office at the Dec. 20 meeting but was not acting as mayor during council procedures that evening.

Aberdeen City Administrator Ruth Clemens said council members on Wednesday were provided a legal opinion on the issue from the city’s attorney.

“(The attorney) does not believe there is any conflict,” Clemens said.

Sidor’s motion to send Orr’s motion back to the committee passed with support from David Gakin, David Lawrence, Pierracini, Melvin Taylor and Kacey Morrison, while Kati Kachman, Liz Ellis, Deborah Ross and Dee Anne Shaw voted against.

The LTAC committee has 45 days to reexamine the applications and return them to council. Kachman asked if extending deliberations would affect planning or timelines for any of the applicants, and Ross expressed concerns about extending the discussions.

“I don’t want to see these events go away,” she said. “They’re super important for our community. They need some financial support, and we’re gonna say no?”

Stacie Barnum, the city’s staff member assigned to the LTAC committee, said that extending discussions would not affect timelines for any of the events.

“I think that there’s enough questions that deserve a little more clarity and I don’t think it’s a lot to ask just to send it back to the committee,” Morrison said. “It’s not saying no, it’s just saying not right now.”

Although they were presented as separate items on the council’s agenda, both Orr’s Harbor Art Guild applications and the rest of the field were sent back to the committee.

Shaw said that if the council wanted more information about Orr’s conflict of interest, that should apply to any other potential conflicts of interest. In an email to The Daily World, Shaw said that she supported the committee’s recommendations.

“I’d just like to make sure that we’re even-handed in our exploration of potential conflict of interest,” Shaw said.

Before the city’s discussion and vote on the lodging tax applications, Councilmember Joshua Francy, who won’t serve on the council in 2024, stepped out due to his involvement with the Aberdeen Sunday Market. Councilmember Ellis serves on the board of directors for the Grays Harbor Historical Seaport, which applied for $15,000 in lodging tax funds but didn’t receive a grant recommendation from the LTAC committee. As of Dec. 20, Councilmember Ross, who won’t be on the council in 2024, served as the city council liaison to the board of directors for the Downtown Aberdeen Association, for which the committee recommended granting the full requested amount for the Summerfest and Winterfest events at $3,500 apiece.

Per state law, members of the city’s LTAC committee are also members of grant receiving organizations.

“At the end of the day, the council can decide which conflicts it wants to explore and talk about. It’s ultimately the council’s decision which conflicts it’s comfortable with,” Shaw said.

Contact reporter Clayton Franke at 406-552-3917 or clayton.franke@thedailyworld.com.

*This article has been corrected to reflect that the following quote is attributed to council member Kacey Morrison: “I think that there’s enough questions that deserve a little more clarity and I don’t think it’s a lot to ask just to send it back to the committee,” Morrison said. “It’s not saying no, it’s just saying not right now.” A previous version of the article attributed the quote to Debi Pieraccini.