Category Archives: Issaquah

Why Issaquah can’t be trusted, Part 4: proof Issaquah planned an assumption of Water District despite denials

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The Sammamish Reporter has a long story about Issaquah’s plans that have in the works for several years to take over part of the Sammamish Plateau Water & Sewer District.

Issaquah repeatedly denied to Klahanie that it plans to do so, and was forced to backtrack when the Water District revealed the plans. The Sammamish Reporter provides a detailed look at a 2011 Issaquah “White paper” that makes it clear Issaquah indeed had plans to assume part of the District.

Furthermore, I found another Sammamish Reporter article from 2009 that once more casts doubt on Issaquah’s track record of doing what it says it will do.

Issaquah entered a Memorandum of Understanding with the Sammamish Plateau Water and Sewer District in 2009 to treat stormwater before it entered the Lower Reid Infiltration Gallery (LRIG) and then didn’t follow through.

Pre-treatment of stormwater before it is injected into the LRIG is at the heart of the disagreements between the two governments. And it is disagreement over this that leads to the proposed hostile takeover of the sliver of the District that lies within Issaquah but which supplies 40%-50% of the drinking water to the 93% of the District that lies outside Issaquah, including most of Sammamish, the Klahanie Potential Annexation Area and other parts of King County.

Providence Point within Issaquah is one of the more concentrated areas also served by the 7% of the District within the city. Three wells also are within the “7%” and represent the heart of the District’s assets.

I previously reported that Issaquah reneged on an MOU it signed with Sammamish to transfer the Klahanie Potential Annexation Area to Sammamish.

  • The Sammamish City Council this week adopted a resolution directly the City Manager to undertake a study of potentially annexing Klahanie if the expected vote tentatively scheduled by Issaquah to do so fails.

Residents of the Klahanie PAA need to think long and hard about whether they want to be part of a city where the government is so unreliable.

Issaquah to Klahanie in 2010: We can’t support your parks and we’re fine with giving them away

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As Klahanie residents await a decision from the state Boundary Review Board whether to allow an annexation vote into Issaquah next February, it’s useful to recall that as recently as 2010, Issaquah said it didn’t have the funds to maintain the parks in the area.

“Though Klahanie is in the City of Issaquah’s Potential Annexation Area (PAA), they too have said they don’t have the money to maintain the park,” the Issaquah/Sammamish Reporter detailed.

The paper also wrote, “At a joint meeting of the Issaquah and Sammamish city councils on Tuesday night, councilors had their first close look at the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) which was drafted by King County some months ago, and states ‘the parties acknowledge that the City of Sammamish has the resources and infrastructure to maintain this facility at the current or higher level of service… and agree that it is in the best interest of the general public for King County to transfer Klahanie park to Sammamish.'” (Emphasis added.)

Even Issaquah City Councilman Fred Butler took note of the Sammamish’s willingness to step up, according to the paper.

“I think it should be noted that it was Sammamish who stepped forward with a solution when one was needed,” Issaquah Councilmember Fred Butler said.

It’s three years later, and there is no indication that Issaquah is in a better financial condition to provide services that Klahanie needs. It’s also worth noting that Issaquah was fine with giving away Klahanie’s parks three years ago, which of course raises questions just how committed the Issaquah City Council is to Klahanie–or whether it wants Klahanie for what Klahanie brings to Issaquah, not what it can do for Klahanie.

Issaquah Reporter slams City’s cybersquatting–but not one word of condemnation from elected officials

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The Issaquah Reporter, in an editorial, joined the Issaquah Press and Sammamish Review in slamming the City of Issaquah for cybersquatting the website of the Sammamish Plateau Water and Sewer District.

But there still has not been one word of condemnation from the elected officials of the City of Issaquah. Instead, Mayor Ava Frisinger and City Administrator Bob Harrison defended the action.

In the only contested race in the city elections this year, Councilmen Fred Butler and Joe Forkner dodged. Both said they had no concurrent or advance knowledge of the cybersquatting. Butler expressed frustration at the volume of emails received from people concerned about Issaquah’s plans to inject water into the Lower Reid Infiltration Galley, uphill from an aquifer supplying drinking water to 40%-50% of the Water District, but he didn’t make any statement concerning the city’s action. Forkner declined comment, according to the Sammamish Review.

None of the other council members has made any public statement that we are aware of.

The namby-pambyism of Butler, Forkner and the city council–especially in the face of universal condemnation–is incredulous. Frisinger’s and Harrison’s defense of the action is downright appalling.

No wonder the City of Sammamish has trouble dealing with Issaquah.

No wonder Issaquah can’t be trusted, on a variety of issues, including annexation of Klahanie.

As the newspapers said, Issaquah is lacking ethics and good government.

Issaquah Press slams city for cybersquatting, calls city government unethical

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The Issaquah Press has slammed the City of Issaquah for its cybersquatting of the Sammamish Plateau Water and Sewer District’s websites, calling the city government unethical and engaging in “trickery” at taxpayer expense.

The editorial called the practice “wrong at all levels.” It called for the city administration and employees involved to be held accountable. But Mayor Ava Frisinger previously declined to denounce the practice, nor has any member of the city council, including Fred Butler, candidate for mayor to success the retiring Frisinger.

City Administrator Bob Harrison defended the cybersquatting.

The sister publication of the Issaquah Press, the Sammamish Review, published the same editorial.

 

Why Issaquah can’t be trusted, Part 3: City reneged on signed MOU transferring Klahanie PAA to Sammamish

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I’ve previously written Part 1 and Part 2 about why Issaquah can’t be trusted. Here’s another reason, Part 3: Issaquah reneged on a May 2002 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the City of Sammamish that would have transferred the Klahanie Potential Annexation Area to Sammamish from Issaquah.

Mayor Ava Frisinger signed the MOU on May 6, 2002, attested to by Marcia Conon, the city clerk, and “Approved as to Form” by Wayne Tanaka, the city attorney.

Four months later, in September, Issaquah reneged.

This timeline is outlined in a submission by Sammamish to the Boundary Review Board, which is holding a public meeting tonight on Issaquah’s request to authorize an annexation vote in February.

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The Boundary Review Board holds its public hearing Wednesday, September 18, 2013, at 7pm at the Holiday Inn in Issaquah.

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Here is a download of the MOU: Klahanie MOU

The MOU’s reasons are clearly stated: with Sammamish, then a newly incorporated city, having better proximity and more contiguous boarders, among other reasons, Frisinger and Sammamish City Manager Ben Yacizi, who signed the MOU for Sammamish, agreed that Klahanie should go to Sammamish.