March 14, 2022: Another complaint to the Washington State Attorney General’s Office over Sammamish’s delays in responding to Public Records Request (PRRs) has surfaced.
The complaint, filed February 4, asked for help from the AG’s office to spur Sammamish to respond to PRRs in a timely manner. When contacted by Sammamish Comment, the complainant asked for anonymity out of fear of adverse social media response from “the peanut gallery.” Responses to PRRs fall under the City Clerk’s office, who reports to City Manager Dave Rudat.
March 11, 2022: A complaint was filed this week with State Attorney General Bob Ferguson over the City of Sammamish investigation of City Manager David Rudat and the refusal to release the full investigative reports sought by multiple parties under the Public Records Act.
Former Council Member Tom Odell filed the complaint, dated March 3. It was received by the AG’s office this week.
Odell filed his complaint days before the City Attorney finally responded March 9 to a Public Records Request (PRR) filed by The Sammamish Comment on November 19, 2021, seeking the full reports. (See this story.) Odell is likely to file an amendment or supplement to his complaint in the coming days.
Tom Odell
“I think the reports should be released quickly irrespective of the damage it may cause in other quarters,” Odell told The Comment on March 9. “Obviously some people are reluctant to have this put out for some reason. I won’t speculate as to why.” However, it is believed by some that there is politically damaging information to Council Members Karen Moran and Kent Treen. Supporters of Rudat also have charged that all members of the 2019-2021 City Council except Pam Stuart leaked privileged information from Executive Sessions to Michael Scoles, a vociferous critic of Christie Malchow. All of these council members except Moran denied they leaked information when asked this week. Moran did not respond to The Comment’s question.
Odell, commenting on the City Attorney’s refusal to release the reports, said there is a compelling public interest to override claims of exemption from PRRs. The taxpayers and citizens of Sammamish have a right to know what has consumed so much of the Council’s time over the past year.
Malchow, the current mayor, had no comment to Sammamish Comment when asked if she thought releasing the reports was in the public interest of the taxpayers and citizens of the city.
March 9, 2022: The City of Sammamish just advised it will not produce the 44-page and 88-page reports of its investigation of City Manager David Rudat, citing attorney-client privilege and work product.
Sammamish Comment sought the full reports under the State’s Public Records Act. The Comment submitted its request in November. It’s taken nearly four months to respond to the PRR.
March 1, 2022: The Sammamish City Council voted 4-2 to enter into a separation agreement effective March 31 for the resignation of city manager David Rudat.
Rudat will get severance pay as outlined in his contract plus another six months of pay and benefits. He will also get a letter outlining his accomplishments in return for a release of all his claims against the city.
Christie Malchow, Amy Lam, Kali Clark and Karen Howe voted to adopt the settlement agreement. Karen Moran and Ken Treen voted against it.
An investigation report of suspected malfeasance by Sammamish City Manager David Rudat has been kept from the public by his staff for over three months now.
Multiple public records requests (PRRs) submitted by media outlets and citizens have been delayed because of “legal review.” However, invoices from the law firm handling PRR reviews show a review has not been started in two and a half months.
The Sammamish Comment also learned that City Council members were only given a temporary, staff-supervised limited access to a shortened version of the full report.
Only an 11 page executive summary, prepared by the city staff’s request so as to not disclose confidential information, has been released to the public.
And while the investigation of the City Manager is still pending, the outside attorney in charge of his investigation was hired by the City Manager to represent the City on another case–raising concerns for the appearance of a conflict of interest.
Due to misinformation spread in the community and social media, TheComment is resuming limited coverage of city hall.
Sammamish Comment 