Report: Pierce County to drop lawsuit against Gig Harbor activist

UPDATE Tuesday night: Pierce County will drop a lawsuit against a Gig Harbor activist, according to the Tacoma News Tribune. The suit was reportedly filed on Feb. 27 against Jerry Gibbs for County Executive Pat McCarthy, who wants to keep the project on schedule.

—Original story—

A Pierce County resident says the county is suing him for trying to put a new administration building project up to a vote of the people.

“I’m just exercising my rights as spelled out in the county charter,” Jerry Gibbs, the founder of Citizens for Responsible Spending, told 770 KTTH host David Boze. “It’s very clear. It’s very simple, any ordinance, a citizen, a legal voter in the county can file a referendum and take that issue to the voters.”

Related: Listen to Jerry Gibbs’ full interview

In February, the Pierce County Council voted 4-3 to move forward with a $127 million project for a new county building to bring together 19 departments and divisions that are currently scattered in 14 locations.

Councilmembers in support of the project have said the consolidation will save the county in staffing and lease payments.

“This business plan will save taxpayers millions of dollars in leases, staffing and maintenance costs,” said Councilmember Rick Talbert, who represents the area in Tacoma’s South End where the new campus would be built. “We have carefully analyzed current and future costs, asset values, risk, and more. An independent consultant verified our staff savings through consolidation. This pencils out in the taxpayers’ interest.”

One of the councilmembers opposed to the project explained he had concerns over the projects’ funding being dependent, in part, on staff size.

“In order to make the mortgage payments, 38.1 jobs would have to stay eliminated for the duration of the mortgage, and we can’t promise that future councils and executives would adhere to that,” Councilmember Dan Roach said. “I sincerely hope I’m proven wrong and everything works out for the best, but I couldn’t, in good conscience, ask our taxpayers to shoulder that risk. I wouldn’t make that commitment with my own money, and I don’t think we should make it with their money either.”

Gibbs said on the night the county voted on the project, there was a motion to send it to voters, but it didn’t get a second from any councilmembers. This raised his suspicions.

“That told me that they didn’t want this to be voted on by the people because there are problems with their plan.”

He wants voters in Pierce County to have the opportunity to have a say in the project. Gibbs hoped to collect enough signatures to get the issue on the November ballot. But county officials apparently have other ideas.

Gibbs told Boze he’s never been sued before and is in a position where he’ll be covering his own legal costs.

“I’m law abiding. I pay my taxes. I’m a veteran. But when you start getting sued by the county, you have no choice but to go lawyer up,” Gibbs said. “I’ve done that at my own expense by dipping into my 401K to pay for it. I hope that I can recoup some of those legal costs.”

At least one county official disagrees with the decision to sue Gibbs. Councilmember Dan Roach has authored a resolution asking that the lawsuit be dropped.

“The Pierce County charter was written by the citizens and broad provisions were given to ensure that they could participate in the process,” Roach said in a statement. “The right to file a referendum is clearly spelled out. Suing a citizen because they simply chose to exercise their rights is wrong. I will defend the citizens’ right to speak up without fear of retaliation all day long.”