Clallam County Watchdog

Clallam County Commissioner Mark Ozias is out of the county this week, traveling to Washington, D.C. on behalf of the Washington State Association of Counties, where he was just elected president. Residents were told the trip used “no county funds.” That answer may be technically correct—but it ignores how WSAC is funded, what it actually does, and how much Clallam County taxpayers have already pa...

From a controversial advisory board appointment tied to the Towne Road dispute, to repeat offenders cycling through a permissive system, to a commissioner declining to cite the law behind a $4 million housing decision, to national media narratives that overlook local flooding realities, and finally to new scrutiny of opaque judicial appointments—the theme is consistent. Decisions affecting the pub...

There’s no second chance to make a first impression — especially in public office. On the very night Port Angeles swore in its returning City Council members, newly elected Councilmember Mark Hodgson was nowhere to be found. The absence may seem procedural. The implications are not. Combined with a deadlocked mayoral vote and deepening concerns about leadership, process, and transparency, the meet...

Two months into his campaign for Clallam County Commissioner (District 3), Jake Seegers joins Sundays with Seegers for a wide-ranging, candid conversation about what he’s seeing on the ground—and what the county keeps missing. We talk about unaccounted-for money, recurring oversights, and how an observant citizen can often connect dots that government agencies seem unable—or unwilling—to connect....

When citizens asked whether a powerful corporation should contribute fairly to county services, they expected their elected officials to advocate on their behalf—not quietly side with the donor who called them “complainers.” Newly obtained public records reveal how Commissioner Mark Ozias responded when Jamestown Corporation CEO Ron Allen dismissed tax concerns, demanded critics be “set straight,”...

One of Clallam County’s most cherished public parks—owned, funded, and enjoyed by generations of taxpayers—is now the subject of behind-the-scenes discussions about a potential transfer of management to a sovereign corporation. The public was not informed. The discussion did not occur in an open meeting. And the key parties involved include a county commissioner and his top campaign donor. For man...

Miguel Angel Medel Lopez was deported from the United States multiple times, convicted of serious sexual crimes against young children, and still managed to return to Clallam County — where the public is now paying to prosecute him all over again. As indigent defense costs continue to rise and court resources are strained by retrials, this case exposes systemic failures that left children vulnerab...

From coastline mapping already done with federal data, to neighborhoods flooding after “restoration,” to NGOs and advisory boards operating with little transparency, Clallam County residents are again left asking the same question: Who is this system really working for? This potpourri examines government partnerships that defy common sense, harm-reduction policies that externalize costs onto busin...

As state and local spending has surged beyond inflation, Clallam County’s housing crisis has only deepened. In Clallam Bay and Sekiu, residents are pleading for solutions while government proposals promise years of delay, more regulation, and millions in new costs. This Sundays With Seegers contrasts top-down approaches with community-led solutions that are already delivering results — faster, che...

A letter obtained through a public records request highlights a growing gap between what residents are experiencing and how county leadership is responding. After years of reporting crime and watching conditions deteriorate, a Port Angeles resident wrote directly to county commissioners asking for accountability and a change in direction. Commissioner Mike French’s reply is sympathetic in tone, bu...

A look inside the $118,000 “safe parking” program with no participants, a deeply conflicted choice to oppose an ethics initiative, and a reminder that timber—not new taxes—built Sequim’s new library. Along the way, residents raise legitimate questions about public safety, nonprofit metrics, media priorities, and whether county leadership is actually seeing what voters are experiencing on the groun...

Clallam County says it is selling surplus land to reduce costs and restore parcels to the tax rolls. But several properties slated for sale sit inside a developing commercial node that has already attracted the Jamestown Corporation’s expansion — raising an uncomfortable question: are taxpayers being asked to believe land will generate long-term public benefit, when past practice suggests it could...

Local leaders speak passionately about democracy, compassion, and progress during interviews — but too often those words fall flat. From luxury-priced “affordable” housing to the disappearing records of a sovereign corporation. Examples of selective transparency and unanswered calls for public dialogue mount in this Watchdog roundup, which examines how Clallam County’s governing class says the rig...

Clallam County taxpayers were told a dire story: multi-million-dollar deficits, looming layoffs, and essential services on the chopping block unless property taxes were raised. That narrative justified higher fees, staff cuts, weakened public safety, and a levy lid lift pushed to the ballot. Then, just days after voters rejected the tax increase, nearly $2 million in previously undisclosed revenue...

Clallam County leaders encouraged residents to give generously this holiday season. What they did not disclose is that one commissioner publicly elevated a nonprofit he personally leads—in a county awash with hundreds of charities, millions in charitable dollars, and very little public visibility into how those funds move. When public office and nonprofit leadership overlap, transparency is not op...

Clallam County continues to deliver a familiar pattern: public safety incidents downplayed, transparency resisted, spending justified without scrutiny, and ordinary residents left carrying the consequences. These ten short stories—each real, each documented—offer a clear picture of a system that increasingly protects institutions, insiders, and repeat offenders, while asking taxpayers and law-abid...

After months of refusing to answer questions about taxpayer-funded private security at Charter Review Commission meetings, Commissioner Jim Stoffer has finally shared an explanation with his fellow commissioners—but what he offered was not new evidence or transparency. Instead, he circulated a curated set of emails from county leaders defending the decision and recasting it as routine, even though...

Vulnerability takes courage—and Ron Davis knows what that means. In this podcast-only episode of Sundays With Seegers , Clallam County Commissioner candidate Jake Seegers sits down with Ron Davis, a man who overcame crack cocaine and meth addiction without harm reduction and has remained sober for 17 years . Ron’s perspective is unique—and uncomfortable for policymakers. After getting clean, Ron e...

Clallam County property owners were told a new parcel fee was essential to protect clean air, water, and soil. Since then, the Clallam Conservation District has expanded staffing, secured county-approved contracts with premium hourly rates, and now finds itself at the center of a court decision voiding a supervisor election. With another election approaching, the moment has arrived to restore bala...

Clallam County Jail booked Gerard Robert Fleetwood on a fugitive hold and a domestic-violence-related fourth-degree assault, then released him by court order. Fleetwood appears to match a man described in 2020 New Jersey reports as a “10-time felon” arrested after a knife-involved robbery and a violent struggle with police. At the same time, Level III sex offender Lonnie Priester from Yakima is ba...

As the Clallam County Charter Review Commission reaches its final meetings, unresolved ethical breaches, selective rule enforcement, and escalating efforts to control who may speak—and how—have come to define the process. What was intended to be a nonpartisan exercise in grassroots democracy instead exposed how gatekeepers of influence protect their own, chill dissent, and bend procedure to avoid...

Clallam County has fallen into a familiar pattern: new programs marketed as “workforce solutions” that look a lot like NGO funding pipelines; public safety threats reframed as “pranks”; repeat offenders cycling through the system; and “fairness” invoked selectively—depending on who broke the rules. Meanwhile, Port Angeles is poised to adopt policy language with long-term economic consequences, and...

In this investigation, Jake Seegers exposes how Clallam County’s homelessness system has drifted from its mission and begun serving everyone except the people who live here. Despite millions in taxpayer funding, hundreds of empty shelter beds, and two decades of planning, NGOs continue to prioritize out-of-county applicants, bypass local needs, and defend policies that keep public land filled with...

Clallam Transit went fare-free in January 2024 using revenue from Washington’s Climate Commitment Act (CCA) — the same program that pushed statewide gas prices to the highest in the nation. Officials promised equity, climate benefits, and broader access. Instead, incidents at transit centers and on buses have surged. Increasingly, buses are functioning as rolling homeless shelters, leaving essenti...

Clallam County is pushing ahead on a redesign of Voice of America Road and the Kitchen-Dick/Lotzgesell curve — the gateway to the Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge. But after the Towne Road debacle, public faith in the County’s ability to complete a project transparently and competently has eroded. Voice of America Road now serves not only recreational traffic but also access to a refuge newly ma...