Frustrated Pacific continues to vent.
Concerned citizens gossip on sidewalks. Angry business owners explain the problems on Facebook.
Folks frequently ring our office, calling for the mayor’s head.
The City Council remains lost, dysfunctional without a proven leader.
And it doesn’t appear to be getting any better.
Nearly 16 months into his mayoral term, Cy Sun has done little for his city. He fears no one, trusts a chosen few.
In a small town that knows only drama, Sun and the council remain at odds, finding little compromise and wasting significant time, money and emotion embroiled in personalities, controversies and petty differences.
In this power struggle between an inept mayor and a reticent council, the constituency goes underserved, ignored.
“As a real estate agent and builder currently building in Pacific I can safely say that the city needs guidance,” a man replied on Facebook last week. “I have spent months waiting for permits and city officials to set up times for inspections and finals that have been pushed back because no one knows what to do within the government. I am amazed at the lack of record for this city’s government.”
Under Sun’s tyrannical watch, City protocol has disintegrated. The mayor, under the system, wields too much say.
The police department has been jolted and torn apart, leaving Pacific prone to more crime. The City’s top cops were suspended, their rancor aired in the media. An interim public safety director, a controversial figure and an ill-advised hire, stepped away after two days on the job.
The city clerk has been replaced, not once, but twice.
Dismissed department heads – professional personnel needed to safely carry out the services of a municipality – have not been replaced.
An anxious City spins without a compass.
“Unfortunately, we have no city engineer and only one person doing the work of building inspector, code enforcement, director of public works and community Development …, ” wrote Councilmember Joshua Putnam on Facebook. “The money is there for proper staffing; authorized and funded positions have been sitting vacant for most of the past year. The extreme understaffing of the police department gets the most attention, but that’s just one of many issues.”
City Hall remains a contentious battleground, not a harmonious place that extends a warm welcome, a helping hand.
As one Pacific man summed up, “We’ve become a laughingstock in Olympia.”
How can this continue?
Sun should save the trouble as a citizen-organized recall effort mounts. Let the capable council do its job.
It is time for the ineffective, confrontational mayor to walk away. Sun should do the honorable thing and resign. Please end this nightmare.
The good people of Pacific and a talented council deserve better.
