Nearly two years in the making, and much to the surprise of one and all who gathered for the Thursday, December 7, Black Diamond City Council meeting, the meeting was a breath of fresh air as business was accomplished and Councilmembers, along with the Mayor were for the most part all getting along, conversing with one another and sharing thoughts without raised voices or Points of Order all meeting.
First big victory of the night came when the Council all voted together to pass the resolution regarding Ten Trails Final Plat, Phase 2 Plat C Division 1. During a summary of the Staff Report, Andy Williamson, Interim Community Development Director, reminded the Council that they had the information on the Final Plat two weeks prior. According to Williamson the plat was issued on November 22nd in their Council packet. Then during a Special Meeting on November 30th, Williamson presented a report on the Final Plat before officially handing it off to the Council. A Council Work Shop was held on December 4th to answer any questions Councilmembers had on the matter before them regarding the final plat.
Continuing with his summary, Williamson ran through facts and figures about the plat, along with how the process worked. He stated that the plat had already been approved by the Community Development Director, Public Works Director, City Attorney, Fire Chief, and the Police Chief.
“If the final plat application complies with all applicable conditions and regulations,” stated Williamson, “the City Council is required to enter written findings to that effect and authorize the Mayor to execute the City’s written approval on the face of the plat.”
Following the reading of a letter from Colin Lund, Director of Development for Oakpointe, by Councilmember Janie Edelman into the record and a short question by Councilmember Erika Morgan that was quickly answered, the Council voted unanimously to pass the Final Plat.
The next three agenda items regarding City Buildings Roof Replacement Project, Traffic School for Enumclaw, and Building Inspection Services with Maple Valley, zipped through with unanimous consent of the Council. Then as Finance Director May Miller went over the amendments to the 2017 Operating Budget, she informed the Council of one area that sent a shockwave through the audience.
Addressing housekeeping for the 2017 legal expenditures, Miller explained that in the past the City usually spent approximately $10,000 a year on lawsuits, along with approximately $10,000 for various other un-general fund items, such as public disclosure requests, or special projects. As a result, $20,000 was budgeted for the items in the 2017 Budget.
Miller went on to state that as she estimated for just these two areas of the 2017 Budget while getting ready for the amended budget, the amount expended over the year would be approximately $263,000. Of that amount, $20,000 was covered by 2017 Budget. Then due to all the extra growth and activity in the building going on in Black Diamond, an extra $175,000 was received in sales tax that had not been budgeted for 2017.
This brought the City within $68,000 of the expenditures for the lawsuits over the year. To cover this remaining amount, the City would have to draw the fund balance down and re-appropriate the $68,000 to the lawsuits, which (according to State law) would need a majority plus 1 vote by the Council to approve the amended 2017 Budget ordinance. With no discussion in the matter, Councilmember Brian Weber quickly made a motion to approve the amended 2017 Budget ordinance, which was just as quickly seconded by Councilmember Pat Pepper. Then unlike the 2017 Budget where an Emergency Budget was passed on December 27, 2016 with final passage on March 2, 2017, the 2018 Budget passed unanimously by the Council without sparks and disagreements at all. Those in the audience showed their appreciation by applauding their approval.
No sooner were the budget items out of the way than it was time to take on the two resolutions regarding providing defense funds for Councilmembers Morgan, Weber, and Pepper. Mayor Carol Benson read from the 2017 Amended RCW: “No municipal officer may use his or her position to secure special privileges or exemptions for himself, herself or others, and no municipal officer may directly or indirectly give or receive or agree to receive any compensation, gift, reward, or gratuity from a source except the employing municipality for a matter connected with or related to the officer’s services as such an officer unless otherwise as provided by law.”
Mayor Benson went on to explain that when voting for the resolutions before them, Councilmembers should not be voting on the resolutions for themselves, as they were exempt from being able to vote for themselves when it came to receiving special privileges. Pepper spoke up stating that she wanted Attorney Glenn to speak to the issue. Glenn briefly stated that “This was the same issue, Mayor, I believe, that was discussed earlier, and the cases are made clear that in these types of situations, the defense, which is being request the authorization is not the type of monitory interest that would prohibit the vote. And that I believe was dealt with earlier in a written document.”
Councilmember Edelman came back with, “You guys need to be ashamed of yourselves. This is a total conflict of interest on all three of you. There’s only one resolution…and so the three of you should be recusing yourself from that vote, which means we don’t have a majority to vote on this. You should just withdraw both of these resolutions.”
Pepper pushed forward making a motion and reading the first of two resolutions regarding Councilmembers Morgan, Weber, and Pepper receiving provision for their defenses in their lawsuits. The motion was seconded by Morgan. Councilmember Tami Deady asked the three Majority Councilmembers how much the fees were that they were asking the citizens to pay. Pepper replied that they did not know that yet.
Edelman asked how they could vote on it, to which Pepper defiantly stated that they could vote on it. After answering a few more questions with they did not know how much monetarily they were looking for, the vote went forward with Majority Councilmembers voting in favor of their resolution – with Deady and Edelman voting no.
The second resolution, regarding additional funds for all three Majority Councilmembers was read by Pepper, as well, before being seconded by Morgan. With no discussion, Majority Councilmembers voted in favor for themselves again, while Deady and Edelman voted no.
With all the ordinances and resolutions behind them, Edelman made a motion to cancel the upcoming work-study and final Council meeting of the year, which was seconded by Deady. Edelman cited that the big work for the year was completed with the passage of the 2018 Budget and the Ten Trails Final Plat. It was also noted that there was nothing on the agenda for either of the meetings. The near unanimous vote ended with Morgan deciding to vote no on the motion.
During Public Comment, community member, Robbin Taylor, noted that the meeting was “amazing” to watch as Councilmembers discussed things with one another and then passed all agenda items. “Wow!” exclaimed Taylor.
