Offsides?

A well-known Bainbridge attorney is blowing the whistle on Bainbridge Island City Manager Doug Schulze’s attempt to ban cheese from city hall on Friday.

Schulze issued Executive Order 121212 on Wednesday and outlawed the consumption of cheese, and the possession of cheese, at city hall as islanders get ready for the NFC Championship on Sunday that will pit the Seattle Seahawks against the Green Bay Packers.

The executive order noted that city hall would be awash with 12th Man fans dressed in the Seahawks colors of green and gray on Friday, and also ruled that the favorite food of “Cheeseheads,” as the fans of the Packers are known, would be unwelcome on the premises.

That means no Swiss, miss, and no Muenster, man.

The cheese ban also extends to “cheese-flavored products.”

But Mike Spence, an island resident who is also a member of the Bainbridge Island School Board, sent the city some legal advice late Wednesday that showed Schulze’s executive order had more holes in it than a slice of Baby Swiss.

“As a citizen of Bainbridge Island, and as a part owner of the Green Bay Packers and Ice Bowl I survivor, I question your authority to issue the above-mentioned Executive Order,” Spence wrote in an email to Schulze.

Spence noted that the city’s municipal code bestows the county health district with the power to enforce health regulations.

“As a food item, the regulation of cheese falls clearly within the authority of the Kitsap County Department of Health, rather than the City of Bainbridge Island, a noncharter Code City under RCW 35A.11. I see no authority under that statute granting a noncharter Code City the authority to regulate cheese,” Spence wrote. “In fact, a Boolean search of that chapter shows no results for the word ‘cheese.’”

“Your Executive Order 121212 is therefore beyond your power, known in the law as ‘ultra vires,’” the attorney added.

City spokeswoman Kellie Stickney could not be immediately reached for comment late Wednesday.