A city councilman who is considering a run for mayor next year may have put Oak Harbor in a tricky legal position should pending personnel issues land the city in court.

Councilman Scott Dudley was the sole member of the council to vote against an emergency ordinance Oct. 19 that dealt with the solidification of the city’s internal employee appeals process. Staff, including City Attorney Margery Hite, recommended the change due to a number of pending personnel issues.

According to Dudley, the proposed ordinance was being pitched as both an overdue housekeeping item and an emergency. It can only be one or the other, he said. Acknowledging that he didn’t know the whole story, as the full extent of the “pending personnel” problems were not divulged, Dudley said when it came time to vote he wasn’t convinced the proposal was the right thing to do.

“My concern was not on behalf of the city,” Dudley said. “My concern was for the employee.”

The proposal would have shored up the appeals process for employees disputing reprimands or pursuing grievances. Currently, such appeals are heard by a personnel advisory board, the members of which are appointed by Mayor Jim Slowik. It’s meant to be an alternative or last ditch avenue to solving an issue before taking it to court.

However, per city code, advisory board decisions do not carry much weight. The proposal was to empower the body to act as an independent decision-making authority. Thereby, should a personnel issue ever make it to court, its decision would improve the city’s position, according to Hite.

“It would disadvantage the city in its defense not to have a post deprivation remedy,” she said.

Other council members voiced concerns similar to Dudley’s. Councilmen Rick Almberg and Jim Campbell asked for assurances that the proposal would not stomp on the rights of employees — Hite promised it would not — while Councilman Jim Palmer made it clear that he felt uncomfortable supporting a measure while being “in the dark” about the particulars driving it.

But while Dudley wasn’t alone in his concerns, he was alone in voting against the proposal. Emergency ordinances require a supermajority and council members Bob Severns and Beth Munns were absent, giving a single council member the power to defeat the motion.

It’s not the first time that Dudley has found himself on the losing side of a vote. In fact, over the past few months he has repeatedly been the only person to vote against an issue, from big ticket items such as utility rates hikes and expensive public works contracts to things like the council’s legislative priority list.

He’s also worked hard to hamstring the SE Pioneer Way improvement project. He lobbied the Island County Board of Commissioners to rescind economic development grant funding, brought concerns about other discretionary types of funding to the attention of state regulators, and has accused fellow council members of conflicts of interest.

Since he took office in January, Dudley said he’s grown increasingly “disappointed and concerned” about the way the council makes decisions. He criticized his fellow council members as being to quick to accept measures brought forward by the city staff as fact, and without adequate public review.

Dudley’s conduct has fueled widespread speculation that all the councilman’s “concerns” are nothing more than an attempt to better position himself for a 2011 run for mayor. Although he said his voting record has nothing to do with his political ambitions, Dudley did not deny that he was considering the idea. He is also highly critical of Slowik, and claims that he is frequently approached by constituents who are asking him to pursue the office.

“Do I have a lot of people asking me to do that? Absolutely,” he said. “Am I open to it? Yes.”

Slowik said he’s also heard the rumors and isn’t surprised to learn that others are eyeing the mayor’s hat. Facing challengers who are highly critical of your performance is just part of politics, he said. But it’s a tough job and Slowik isn’t sure whether he will seek reelection. Before he makes a decision, he said he plans to have a physical to determine his health.

“I’m leaning towards running again, but you never know,” Slowik said.