Pacific City Hall provides few dull moments these cloudy days.

Controversy, awakened by what some consider the fumblings of a new administration, grips this small town in Auburn’s shadow.

True to his campaign promise, newly elected Mayor Cy Sun is cleaning house, having already removed some prominent staff, notably the public works and community development director and City engineer. He has also replaced the City attorney, dismissed the community services director and placed the police chief on paid administrative leave.

A noticeably frustrated City Council frets those vacancies as it tries to tend to critical business. Without a City staff to oversee ongoing projects, Pacific could lose federal funds it has to have to get those projects done.

Sun insists the work will go on, but not until he sets the tone and orchestrates his own game plan to fix matters. A highly decorated Korean War veteran, Sun, 81, makes no bones about doing things his no-nonsense way. He isn’t afraid of a challenge, nor will he duck from a fight when he sees something wrong. He vows to oversee business personally.

Sun, who has a mechanical engineering background, is keenly aware of the City’s worn infrastructure and systemic woes but is not willing to handsomely pay City staff to correct them.

He has summoned the support of young engineering minds from the University of Washington.

“Our water system, our sewer system are deteriorating,” Sun said. “But we don’t want to cover up the deterioration. We need to replace them.”

But it takes big money to make that happen.

Grant-funded road projects for Stewart, Milwaukee and Butte and a plan for the Valentine Road project are under way. The projects call for more than $4 million in taxpayers’ dollars.

But these projects will sputter if the City doesn’t make progress or fails to meet critical benchmarks.

What’s more, the City’s stormwater pond replacement project seems to have stalled, threatening millions of dollars in grant money.

Sun says the repairs will be effected, but several citizens aren’t so sure. The new mayor, in their own observation, has a shown a poor grasp of how agencies and public works operate.

Sun claims the City has not worked efficiently or openly in the past.

Richard Hildreth, the two-term incumbent whom Sun upset in the November general election, begs to differ. Upset with the mayor’s remarks at the Feb. 27 City Council meeting, Hildreth broke months of silence this week.

“In discussing public works issues, Mayor Sun made the comments alluding to my administration lying to the people and not representing the people,” Hildreth said. “I want him to explain what he is basing this on. During the campaign he made allusions to corruption, and although he has been asked four times to produce evidence of this, he has not done so.

“I do not wish to attack Mayor Sun or comment on how little leadership he has shown,” Hildreth said. “I am proud of what we accomplished when I was mayor and the economic condition our City was in when I left office. I will not allow him to blame his mismanagement and failures on me or anyone who worked for the City of Pacific under my administration.”

Hildreth said he left Sun’s office with a balanced budget, and nearly $600,000 in reserve funds.

Moreover, the former mayor, deeply concerned about the recent string of firings, is hopeful that the decision-making process doesn’t lead to disastrous consequences for the City in the months and years ahead.

Sun is wrestling with other problems.

City Councilmember John Jones, for one, is demanding a written apology from Sun for what he claims were “slanderous” comments the mayor made at a Feb. 17 public meeting. Sun organized the gathering as a citizen at the Pacific Community Center Gym to defend and prove his military record. He did so with medals and documents.

In his speech, Sun claimed that Jones and residents Reva Bryant and Audrey Cruickshank were part of a “hate seed in the City of Pacific,” and maintained they went to the King County Voting Commissioner to disqualify him from the mayoral race.

Jones says he went to King County Elections to point out an error regarding Sun’s birthday in his campaign registry.

The three may seek legal action if Sun does not apologize.

Jones denies being part of any hate group.

“I don’t hate you, I don’t hate you because you’re an Asian-American,” Jones told Sun at last week’s City Council meeting. “I don’t understand why you would say that I do. I’m an American, just like you.”

Despite all the rhetoric, amplified by the echo chamber of a small, divided town, Sun vows to fight on. He admits he has made mistakes and, at times, has grown weary of the public fight. He wants to move on but is facing resistance. Unless he gains the support of the council and the people, this battle will continue to rage.