By Kimberly Siegel-Wolf
Sammamish is recognized as one of the safest cities in the United States and the safest in the state of Washington. Responsible for law enforcement in Sammamish for the last three years was Chief Michelle Bennett, who was recently promoted within the Sheriff’s department and thus is leaving Sammamish.
The Sammamish Comment sat down with Chief Bennett for one last interview before she moves on.
Continue readingThe Sahalee (and Timberline) Candidate forum was 2:21 hours long.
Next on our series of “bite size” clips are the opening statement from each candidate:
By Miki Mullor
Editor
The City Plaza in front of the Sammamish City Hall was closed off on Sunday, Sep 15, for a private event hosted by Sammamish Chamber of Commerce and sponsored by STCA, the Town Center apartments developer (also known as Innovation Realty).
Continue readingThe Sahalee (and Timberline) Candidate forum was 2:21 hours long.
The next question is “What is different between you and your opponent”. The first bite-size clip features Kent Treen and Karen Howe, who are running for seat 4:
https://youtu.be/Wo4lnDqPDVA
Copyright (c) 2025 The Sammamish Comment
By Scott Hamilton
Analysis
Sept. 16, 2019: The agreement between Sammamish and the YMCA for the latter to run the community center was the result of a sole-source, no-bid contract.
No Request for Proposals was issued that would compete management of the center.
The contract between Sammamish and the YMCA was a sole-source, no-bid arrangement. No Requests for Proposals were issued. A Sammamish businessman wanted to bid. City of Sammamish photo.
An offer by a Sammamish health club owner to submit a bid that would return 15% of the gross receipts to the city didn’t even get a hearing.
One of the leading advocates throughout the years for the YMCA was a city council member who also sat on the YMCA board, a clear conflict of interest that was ignore by the city administration and a successive series of city councils. (This member was off the council in 2012-13, when the votes were held.)
The YMCA was fundamentally the only entity supported by the city for nearly a decade before a contract was negotiated.
These lie at the roots of the current controversial examination of the city’s management contract with the YMCA that sees the agency siphoning off $1.4m a year to the Greater Seattle YMCA rather than keeping the money in Sammamish or sharing the profits with the city’s general fund.
Sammamish Comment 