County counsel says auditor had no duty to call special election without city resolution

Amber Smith, appearing for Clark County Auditor Greg Kimsey, told the court that state election law requires a city's legislative body to transmit a resolution before a county auditor must call a special election. "The county auditor in its statute clearly enumerates when they are entitled to act, and that is when there's a transmission of a resolution," Smith said, arguing no such resolution was transmitted and therefore Auditor Kimsey had no duty to call a special election.

Smith asked the court to affirm the trial court's dismissal tied to the auditor because, in her view, there was no claim against Auditor Kimsey and no statutory violation alleged or shown. She characterized the absence of a transmitted resolution as a dispositive, procedural bar under the statutory scheme transcribed in argument (referred to in the transcript as RCW 29 a 0 4 3 3 0 subsection 2).