The city hearing examiner denied an appeal this week by a local development company forced to halt work on a 4-acre sand pit operation on the island’s south end.
In her decision, Hearing Examiner Margaret Klockars affirmed the city’s late June decision to halt the operation at the intersection of Fletcher Bay and Lynwood Center roads for violating land use permit rules and possibly endangering the largely residential area’s underground water supply.
The city’s newly appointed interim hearing examiner allegedly reneged on a pledge aimed at satisfying concerns that she may favor the mayor in a property dispute.
In a March 2007 audio recording of an examiner hearing, Margaret Klockars, then serving as a fill-in examiner, said she would decline serving as examiner on future Bainbridge cases. She made the pledge to quell criticism that that she may use her decision to curry favor and future employment with Mayor Darlene Kordonowy, who was named in the case.
“Anything that would prevent me from being fair (might be) the fact that I might want to come back here,” Klockars said in a recording made by the city on March 22, 2007. “I can assure you…I would decline if invited to return for any other case.”
Despite her pledge to decline employment, Klockars accepted the mayor’s appointment as hearing examiner 14 months later. She is currently presiding over four cases involving citizen appeals of city decisions.
