MAYOR SEEKS CITY HELP IN FIGHTING RECALL EFFORT

By Chris Cook - Forks Forum editor

The Forks City Council was set Monday night to hear a request to pay for legal services if a recall petition is filed against Mayor Nedra Reed.

Organizers of the recall effort were soliciting the public to protest the request at the meeting in handbills being posted in Forks and through e-mail messages.
Karleen Powell, the former wife of Forks Police Chief Mike Powell, plans to file the petition with Clallam County Auditor's Office this week.

The petition must be reviewed by a Clallam County Superior Court judge prior to the collecting of signatures by Powell and other supporters of the recall effort.

Reed said she would take personal legal action if defamatory statements were made about her by those seeking the recall.
Karleen Powell said she is seeking the recall to address retribution she felt three Forks Police Department employees suffered when they were recently fired.

Former Forks Police Sergeants Tom Scott and JoElle Munger, and Communications Officer Deanna Dematteis were notified on Feb. 29 that they had lost their jobs. Letters detailing why they were fired are in the process of being released by the City of Forks.

All three are appealing their firings through the Teamsters Union. An arbitration date is expected to be set within about a week. They were all placed on paid administrative leave Jan. 28.

Hearings where the three were given a chance to tell their side of the story were held on Feb. 13 and Feb. 19.
Reed told the Forks Forum last week that members of the Forks Police Department were not unanimous in supporting Scott,

Munger and Dematteis, as had been stated in news reports on the issue. She said some of the police staff were not included in a voting on support, or lack of support, for Mike Powell.

Two internal investigations of complaints against Mike Powell by Forks Police Department employees were held in April and June 2007. A third was undertaken in November by the Olympia-based Association of Washington Cities.

Following the hearings all city employees received mandatory training in "respect and professionalism" in the work place, and Powell was provided counseling on the same subject.