Everett City Council Likely To Vote On Guns And Election By Districts On Wednesday

Two topics that have generated a lot of interest are coming up for public hearings and city council votes on Wednesday.

The first topic concerns City Council proposals for election of Everett City Council members by district. The City Council will hold a public hearing on putting a vote on the November ballot that asks voters the following two questions.

A). Do you want city council districts in Everett? and B). Should it be 5 districts with 2 at large or 4 districts with 3 at large?

The council is not offering any other options to voters in the draft materials presented so far.

The mechanics of how districts would be developed are explained by University of Washington professor Hugh Spitzer who provided the following memo to the Everett City Council that clarifies the process and timeline in which districting would move forward. The council hired Spitzer to assist in their efforts. The Council also held four outreach meetings and conducted an unscientific online survey which Spitzer was not asked to consider when doing his work.
Here is that memo.

Hugh Spitzer June 28th Memo

What remains to be seen is if after taking public testimony on Wednesday night the council will consider anything other than just two choices of 5-2 or 4-3 such as a single choice of just 5-2 (as Everett Districts Now has asked) or other combinations such as 2, 3, 6, 7 or 8 districts.

Again this is the City Council work on districting which is separate from the work of Everett Districts Now.

Megan Dunn with Everett Districts Now told MyEverettNews.com in spite of impressions left by an Everett Herald editorial Sunday her group is actively collecting signatures. “The Herald editorial board did not even meet with Everett Districts Now and the information provided in the Sunday editorial is not accurate,” Dunn said. “We are out every day still collecting signatures and working toward a single option of 5-2.”

Expect lots of public testimony Wednesday night before the Everett City Council takes their vote.

The second topic involves guns. In another public hearing and vote the Everett City Council will decide on two proposed ordinances relating to gun ownership within the Everett City limits.

In the first case the city wants to require people who have lost or had a gun stolen to report it within twenty four hours.

Currently under State and Federal law people are not required to report the loss or theft of a firearm.

According to briefing papers for the ordinance last year (2017) at least one hundred forty guns were stolen in thefts or burglaries in Everett as reported in sixty nine separate offense reports.

In 2017 Everett Police investigated sixty one cases involving a stolen firearm or someone in possession of a stolen firearm. Also in 2017 Everett Police report recovering twenty seven firearms that were never reported as lost or stolen. So far this year that number sits at nine.

The proposed ordinance the council is being asked to consider says upon discovery of a lost or stolen firearm, that the owner report such theft or loss to the Everett Police Department within twenty four hours. The law would also require the police department to enter the available information about the firearm into a local and national database.

Violation of the ordinance would not be a criminal offense but would be a civil infraction carrying a fine not to exceed $250.00.

The second proposed ordinance coming before the Everett City Council Wednesday night is more of a housekeeping measure.

Currently pointing a firearm at or toward someone, whether loaded or not, within the city limits of Everett is a misdemeanor. The proposed law would raise the penalty to a gross misdemeanor which is in line with Washington State law.

In addition, firing a firearm, air gun or other weapon within the city limits of Everett would be a misdemeanor. There are exceptions for military, law enforcement, security personnel and gun ranges in the ordinance. You can see the entire proposed ordinance here.