Nerditorial: The Power of The One... Surviving The Legislative Zombie Apocalypse

One Council Member might be able to undo Resolution 2010-014.

But first, the little matter about when the Council passes a resolution, and then someone calls it “illegal”.

It must be understood that if the Council takes an action that is in direct violation of its Charter or the WCC, it is not a crime.

It is, however, a procedural error on an epic scale.

Legally, Resolution 2010-014 was not sustained, because the votes cast in favor of it did not have the legal authority to sustain the resolution in the first place.

The resolution is null and void. Calling the resolution “illegal” misses the point. The resolution was “out of order” procedurally, no matter how well centered the dots are on the “i”s or the crosses are on the “t”s. There is no way to render this resolution “in order”, because the resolution is in direct conflict with Charter section 2.24 and WCC 2.02.075175.

There is no procedurally correct way for the Council to pass a resolution that exceeds the limits of the Council’s proper legal authority. That authority being the Charter and the WCC.

It is a “zombie” resolution. It may be walking around, but it isn’t really alive. And like a zombie, it needs to be shot in the head before it causes more damage.

Unlike the temporary “stay” of septic system inspections passed by the Council earlier this year, this resolution will be the action that culminates in an ordinance. That ordinance will be out of order too, and just as null and void as the resolution that initiated it.

A "zombie" ordinance.

That ordinance will be at a high risk of being successfully challenged in a court of law... and since the stakes of amending a Comp Plan are profound, it will be worth someone’s time to challenge that ordinance.

Latte Republic asserts that a single member of Council could very quickly and very neatly bring this to a close and save the tax payers of Whatcom County a great deal of heartache in a courtroom later on.

Since this resolution exceeded the limits of statutory law, it is in a state known as "a continuing breach of order" in parli-pro parlance. (Try saying “parli-pro parlance” three times fast...)

So any one of the seven members of Council at any regular council meeting may make a Point of Order and insist that the breach of order end.

Normally, a point of order must be made at the session when the breach of order occurs. But when breach of order is of a continuing nature, then a Point of Order can be made at any time after the breach begins.

But it can only be made by a sitting Council Member.

There are only seven Whatcom County citizens who have the ammunition to make the head shot necessary to kill this zombie. The same seven citizens who animated this legislative corpse in the first place.

Latte Republic can appreciate that this seems almost too easy to be true.

It isn’t.

Here is one very short quote from Robert’s Rules:

It is the right of every member who notices a breach of the rules to insist on their enforcement.

The right to insist on rules being enforced properly is one of the few absolute rights attributed to the individual in parliamentary procedure.

In most cases, the majority gets what it wants and the minority, and the individual, have to accept the will of that majority.

But the few, and even the one, have the right to insist that the majority obey the rules at all times.

To paraphrase James Tiberius Kirk from Wrath of Khan Search For Spock, sometimes the needs of the one outweigh the needs of the many.

Latte Republic asserts that this is one of those times.

Someone must stop the Legislative Zombie Apocalypse.

Who will it be?