Anacortes council approves consent agenda; prosecutor contract passes with one abstention

The Anacortes City Council on Dec. 22 approved its consent agenda and separately approved a contract for the city prosecutor, with one councilmember abstaining.

Councilmember Hubick moved to approve the consent agenda after Mayor Miller asked that item 5c be pulled for separate consideration. The council approved items 5a and 5b by voice vote. When the council took up item 5c — a contract for the prosecutor — Councilmember Walters said he would abstain, stating, “I just wanted an opportunity to abstain from that vote because the prosecutor is my cousin.” The contract was approved by voice vote with one abstention.

During discussion of item 5c, Councilmember Bolton noted the council had previously discussed hiring a full‑time assistant city attorney but that hiring had not proceeded “due to budget constraints,” and she urged the council to revisit the possibility in the future. Bolton said a full‑time assistant would be more expensive but could provide steadier in‑house legal support.

The votes were conducted by voice; the minutes record the motion carried and one abstention by Walters. No roll-call tally was read into the record for the consent or prosecutor votes.

The council did not adopt any new personnel policy during the meeting; Bolton’s request to revisit the assistant‑attorney option was a direction for future discussion rather than a formal motion to hire.

Next steps: the approved contract will be executed according to staff procedures; the council did not set a date to return to the assistant‑city‑attorney discussion.