The annual Sammamish City Council will be held in Sammamish for the first time in the
City’s history.
The retreat, which will be Jan. 18-20 at the Plateau Club, is where the City Council and staff set policy for the year and talk about long-term objectives.
The 2017 retreat was webcast for the first time; it’s not been announced if the 2018 retreat will be webcast.
Tim Larson
When Tim Larson, the Sammamish communications manager, was sent home on paid Administrative Leave, his boss, City Manager Lyman Howard wrote in a memo he was under “investigation.”
Larson had to make himself available for any questions related to the investigation, Howard wrote.
Larson resigned Sept. 26. The resignation was announced by Howard to the City Council and staff in a benign email that didn’t list any reason. Howard expressed good wishes.
Sammamish Comment obtained a copy of Howard’s August memo, which was released through a public records request (PRR), and submitted a PRR for the investigation report and supporting documents following Larson’s resignation.
Two months later, the City Clerk’s office responded, “At the time of your request there was no investigation.” This appears to be parsing words. Taken literally, this means that on the date of the PRR, there was no investigation. It does not, read literally, address any previous investigation that may have existed.
Tonight is the next to last meeting for four Sammamish City Council members, who chose to retire rather than seek reelection.
Don Gerend is the dean of the Council. He has been on the body since the first Council was elected in 1999.
The Sammamish Town Center plan was about seven years in the making, controversial throughout. Then development was held up by the 2008 Great Recession. Ground was finally broken in 2015. The first store, Metropolitan Market, opened this year. And now the Town Center is again at the center of controversy over the building moratorium.
By Scott Hamilton
There has even been a call to revisit the plan.
Here’s why doing so is not a good idea and why the Town Center is needed.
By Scott Hamilton
Sammamish Comment will continue publishing past Dec. 31, but on a limited basis.
In August 2016, I announced that my wife and I moved to Bainbridge Island after 20 years in Sammamish and that I would continue publishing Sammamish Comment through 2017, at which time I intended to discontinue the effort.
Not being a resident of Sammamish any longer meant I was somewhat removed from events. Although I obviously remained in contact with established relationships, and created some new ones, being absent on a day-to-day basis made it challenging for what was already an endeavor that is pursued in my free time.
My work schedule, at a time when I should be retiring, has gone the other direction. I’m busier than ever and traveling more.
But events emerged that I just can’t give up serving the City I’ve been serving in one way or another since 1997, when I filed my first land use appeal, prior to incorporation.
Sammamish Comment 