Mick Hansen resigns from MLIRD board

MOSES LAKE - Moses Lake Irrigation and Rehabilitation District director Mick Hansen resigned Tuesday night from the district's board of directors.

Hansen initially took office in January 2012. His term would have been up in December.

In his resignation letter, Hansen cited continued concern regarding the district's current election practices and assessment methods as his reasons for leaving the board.

Currently, the number of votes a landowner receives is based on the number of parcels he or she owns, Hansen said. Ideally, each landowner should get a set number of votes maximum, he said.

"Right now, it's by parcels so each one of the parcels has two votes," Hansen said. "It would be nice if it were based off if you were a landowner, you get two votes, that way elections would be decided by popular vote."

One landowner could have enough votes to control an election under current voting practices, he said.

"That does not hold true to the way it should be, the way I'm concerned," Hansen said.

While the voting practices are certainly unfair in his opinion, Hansen said it's the district's current assessment methods that have him the most concerned.

"Our present assessment of one dollar per thousand dollars of valuation is being done without any authority in the RCW's (Revised Code of Washington) beyond the $.25, in my opinion," he wrote in his resignation letter. "I can see a big wreck coming, without being able to do anything about it."

In the letter, Hansen said he believes the district is close to $10 million in over-assessments at this point. That could cause legal troubles for the district later on, he said.

"Definitely my main problem staying on the board is I see a big legal liability coming with the way we're assessing people," Hansen said.

Under the district's bylaws, they can only assess up to 25 cents per $1,000 valuation without it going to a vote of the people, he said. However, the district has been assessing $1 per $1,000 of valuation since about 2007, said Hansen.

He also said his interpretation of the bylaws is that assessments can only be made using the value of the land itself, not of the land and any improvements to the land.

"In a number of cases, there is a major, major difference in those amounts," Hansen said. "They (the district) think they're legal but I have not felt that way since day one, and I've been unsuccessful in trying to change this."

Early in his first year as director, Hansen went to Olympia to support a bill Sen. Janéa Holmquist Newbry, R-Moses Lake, sponsored that would have made several changes to voting and property assessment laws for the district.

The bill made it through the Senate, but did not advance in the House, according to a previous Columbia Basin Herald article.

If passed, voting rules would have changed to one vote per land owner regardless of the number of parcels. The bill would also have allowed MLIRD elections to be by mail and all property tax increases would have required approval by district members.

"It would have changed the way we voted, and it would've made it a requirement that we go to a vote of the people to go over anything over 25 cents," he said. "It was just good legislation."

Although the bill died, Hansen said he still continued to work at getting those changes made. However, as he nears the end of his term, he said he knows the board is no closer to making those changes than before.

"I was hoping to be able to do something about these issues, but I have been unable to," said Hansen. "I can see with the present board that I'm just butting heads with the majority and I don't see any reason to stay on and be the agitator- that's not my idea here."

Hansen said there are a number of district issues still important to him, and resigning from the board doesn't mean he's giving up on them.

"I'll still be involved, I just think I'm in a better position off the board than on the board," he said. "I just want to thank the people who have supported me and I wish I could've done better for them."

Hansen said when vacancies on the board occur, it's up to the county commissioners to fill them. He said commissioners could have a replacement for him within the next 60 days.

That person would fill in for the remainder of his term, and then the seat goes up for election in December as planned, he said.

The MLIRD board is also comprised of directors Ron Covey, Ken Kernan, Bill Bailey and board chair Jeff Foster.

Covey and Kernan declined to comment Wednesday.