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.
The City’s response is below:
Continue readingMarch 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.
By Miki Mullor
Editor
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, The Comment is resuming limited coverage of city hall.
Continue readingBy Miki Mullor
Editor
** Special coverage **
After four years of battle, in which city council was able to temporarily put control on over development, a one-two punch by former mayor Don Gerend and city staff ended the fight.
As of July, development in Sammamish can continue uninterrupted, regardless of inadequate infrastructure.
The concurrency measure known as Volume over Capacity, or V/C, that gave City Council a tool to prohibit development that exceeds the ability of infrastructure to handle it, is gone and so was a development moratorium that has been in place in hopes of restoring it.
Continue readingBy Miki Mullor
Editor
A relative newcomer to the local social media scene, the Facebook group Sammamish Central, takes a different direction than other Facebook groups.
Kerry Boswoth, the group’s administrator, says it intends to keep it “open,” as opposed to other groups which require permission to join in order to see the content.
Originally named Sammamish Election Central, the group renamed itself to Sammamish Central after the November city council election. Anyone with a Facebook account can view the content, post or comment without having to join the group.
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Sammamish Comment 