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City Council Study Session Minutes—September 9, 2013
At approximately 7:00 p.m. Mayor Dean Maxwell called the regularly scheduled Anacortes City Council
study session of September 9, 2013 to order. City Councilmembers Eric Johnson, Ryan Walters, Erica
Pickett, Brad Adams, Bill Turner, Cynthia Richardson and Brian Geer were present.
Mayor Maxwell thanked members of the Noon Kiwanis Club for putting the bull rail on the Ship Harbor
Interpretive Trail this weekend.
Mayor Maxwell invited the community to attend Fidalgo Bay Day on Saturday, September 14 from 11 a.m.
to 3 p.m. at the Fidalgo Bay Resort.
Citizens United
Karen Hall representing Skagit Citizens Ignited said her community group opposes the Supreme Court's
ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission in 2010 that gave corporations and unions the
same rights as people and declared that money is speech. Ms. Hall described the petition effort to
reverse the Citizens United decision. She said the non-partisan group supports fair and transparent
elections as the basis of democracy and is part of a nationwide movement seeking a constitutional
amendment to overturn the Citizens United ruling. Ms. Hall reported the states, counties, cities and
groups that have already called for such an amendment. She then reviewed a series of handouts that had
been provided as part of the Council packet. Ms. Hall urged councilmembers to pass a non-binding
resolution calling for a constitutional amendment overturning the Citizens United ruling. Gail Nichols
added that the wamend.org website is an excellent resource on these issues. Several councilmembers
spoke in support of such a resolution and mentioned that even local elections can be affected by
campaign financing. Mayor Maxwell indicated that a resolution would come back to Council for
consideration.
Boys and Girls Club Update
Boys and Girls Clubs of Skagit County Chief Professional Officer David Conover thanked Anacortes for its
support of the Boys and Girls Club and provided a brief overview of club activities around the county. He
said today is the first time since 2008 that all four clubs in the county have been fully open and that the
total budget this year will be $1 M. Mr. Conover provided financing statistics for the clubs, noting that it
costs about$1000/child to keep the doors open and that the Clubs seek to serve as many children as
possible by keeping dues affordable for families. He summarized enrollment figures. Mr. Conover then
explained the National Youth Outcomes Initiative and the Club's focus on measuring academic success,
community service, and physical activity. He closed by thanking the City for making space available in the
City Hall basement for the Club and mentioned the Board's efforts to develop a plan for the future of the
Anacortes club.
Library Summer Reading Program Update
Children's Librarian Doug Woods provided an update on the 2013 Summer Reading Program, "Dig Into
Reading". He explained that kids in the program log their reading time and win prizes for minutes read.
Mr. Woods said that after extensive outreach in the schools, 517 children of all ages signed up and 1871
attended 46 programs offered, up from prior years. He said well over 300 children read more than 400
minutes over the summer. Mr. Woods described the prizes the children won and some of the special
attractions to get children into the library and energized to read. He invited the community to attend the
Children's Library open house on September 24 from 5 to 7 p.m.
There being no further business, at approximately 7:50 p.m. the regularly scheduled Anacortes City
Council study session of September 9, 2013 adjourned.
Anacortes City Council Study Session Minutes September 9, 2013 1