The King County Council on Monday unanimously approved Mark Van Wieringen, David Ballestrasse, and Alan Predmore as new commissioners to troubled Drainage District 5.
The commissioners must now sort through issues raised by separate investigations conducted by the Enumclaw Police Department and State Auditor, which found that $413,323 had been misappropriated between May 2012 and December 2017 from the special purpose district. In addition, the state uncovered $66,035 in “questionable transactions.”
“These recent events exposed not only a few bad actors, but a greater weakness in state law regarding special purpose districts,” said Vice Chair Regan Dunn, noting that he had introduced legislation in King County to add a new layer of accountability for certain special purpose districts. “The public needs to be able to trust beyond a doubt that their local governments, however small, are legitimate and transparent.”
Special purpose districts generally serve a single function and operate separately from a city, town, or county government, providing an array of services and facilities including electricity, fire protection, flood control, health, housing, irrigation, parks and recreation, library, water-sewer service and more recently, stadiums, convention centers, and entertainment facilities that are not otherwise available from city or county governments.
Each special district is governed by a three-person body. Their terms are six years and they serve until their successor is elected and qualified. One member of the governing body is elected at the time of special district general elections in even-numbered year
Dunn’s legislation, co-sponsored with Councilmember Pete von Reichbauer, asked that the King County Executive report to the Council on all special purpose districts within the county that do not hold regular general elections under state law. The Executive’s Office will undertake comprehensive elections and financial compliance reviews of these special purpose districts.
The three newly appointed commissioners will stand for election in February 2020.
