Tag Archives: Bob Keller

Sammamish fire station hours reduced, fire engine removed

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By Scott Hamilton

Staffed hours at Sammamish Fire Station 81 on 212th Ave. near SE 20th St. were reduced by half and the fire engine removed Jan. 1.

In what appears to be a series of communications failures, there was no notice to city residents in the service area.

Station 81’s service area is the light green color with 284 incidents. All but 80 occurred during the 8:30am-8:30pm period. The fire engine has been retired and an aid car (ambulance) now is staffed only during this 12 hour period instead of 24 hours. Source: Eastside Fire & Rescue.

Station 81’s service are is the western part of Sammamish from roughly just west of 228th Ave. SE to Thompson Hill Road on the north and Snake Hill Road on the south. The Station is located on 212th Ave. SE a half a block south of SE 20th St.

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Valderrama, Howard sought a Developer Agreement with STCA without council authorization

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Sammamish City Council Member Ramiro Valderrama and City Manager Lyman Howard last year wanted to negotiate a Developer Agreement with Town Center developer STCA, without the required council approval, Sammamish Comment learned.

Ramiro Valderrama

The revelation is in an email (click to read it) dated Nov. 21, 2017, that the city manager designated “attorney client privileged.” The email was recently determined to be not privileged and released in a public records request.

The email was addressed to another city employee and cc’d to the city attorney and a second city employee. Howard’s labeling the email attorney-client privilege is intended to bar the email from public disclosure.

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Valderrama’s hypocrisy over Hornish issue

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Analysis

Ramiro Valderrama

Sammamish City Council member Ramiro Valderrama displayed hypocrisy last Tuesday in his aggressive attempt to force fellow member Tom Hornish to remain on committees following acceptance of a new job in the private sector.

Two years ago, Valderrama sought a new job in the public sector that would have had direct conflict of interest with his city council position. It would have meant choosing between his new job and the council when it came to attending meetings and committee meetings. It likely meant Valderrama would have missed the council’s annual retreat at which goals and committee assignments are made for the coming year.

Yet Valderrama vowed to retain his council position if he got the new job and brushed aside all objections from his constituents.

When Hornish stepped up and recognized time constraints were coming, resigned his position as deputy mayor and stepped off all but one committee, Valderrama—oblivious o his own actions two years earlier—objected and engaged in a transparent attempt to set Hornish up to fail and ultimately force him off the council.

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Next to Last meeting for four Council members; reception tonight

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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.

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Valderrama cites fake facts in Town Center moratorium flip-flop

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Ramiro Valderrama

Sammamish City Council Member Ramiro Valderrama, citing what turns out to be a series of unsubstantiated claims, executed a pirouette on his previous vote supporting a moratorium including the Town Center—and went splat.

The Town Center was exempted from the moratorium at the Nov. 21 meeting by a 4-3 vote, with Valderrama, Mayor Bob Keller and Council Members Don Gerend and Kathy Huckabay voting to lift it.

Valderrama said his vote always was about storm water management for the Town Center. In voting to exempt the Town Center, Valderrama claimed the emergency moratorium was not about traffic concurrency.

This simply wasn’t true.

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