The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

DAYTON--On Sept. 28, the City of Dayton asked Superior Court Judge Jackie Shea-Brown to accept the withdrawal of its request for a temporary restraining order against Columbia County, and its Prosecuting Attorney, Rea Culwell, requiring them to restore prosecutorial services to the city.

Quinn Plant, attorney for the City of Dayton, said that Culwell has agreed to restore services to the city for a period of 90 days, if the court allows.

Plant said that because the nature of the situation is no longer determined to be emergent, the extra time will allow the parties involved to develop a back-up plan.

“We still have a lawsuit,” Plant said.

The decade-old inter-local agreement between Dayton and the county could “likely” be renegotiated, so that the city could contract with an outside attorney to provide prosecutorial services for the city, he said.

“Many cities do,” said Plant. “The city is interested in settling as soon as possible,” he added.

Dale Kamerrer, an attorney representing the county, has filed a counter suit to the city’s request to withdraw the requested TRO, stating that, “We disagree, given that Columbia County has filed a cross claim in regards to the above, seeking a TRO which specifically orders the PA to resume performance under the Inter-local agreement.”

The county also objects to the city and the prosecutor modifying the inter-local agreement without the county’s consent, according to Kamerrer.

Plant, representing the city, said that taking one article out of the inter-local agreement is not a very simple thing.

“We need to sit down and talk about how to resolve this,” Plant said. “We are not interested in a fight with the county or the Prosecuting Attorney,” he added.