By Miki Mullor
Editor
The Sammamish City Council has identified six finalists in the search for a new city manager. Current Interim City Manager Larry Patterson is leaving after running the day-to-day operations in the city on an interim basis for the past six months.
Mayor Christie Malchow announced Thursday night on her Facebook page the appointment of Larry Patterson as the new Interim City Manager.
No additional details are available at this time.
The Sammamish City Council approved a $300,000 payment to
Lyman Howard
former city manager Lyman Howard, to separate from the city, according to a Separation and Release Agreement obtained through a public records request.
Howard’s employment with the city terminated as of August 1, 2018.
The payment includes:
The Sammamish City Council tabled for one week a contract to hire an interim city manager.
The move came without comment or debate, following a four hour executive session, called to interview candidates for a public employee position and to review the performance of a public employee.
The only employee position the council has direct authority over is the city manager.
Lyman Howard
Lyman Howard, the Deputy City Manager for Sammamish, was named May 19 to succeed retiring Ben Yacizi as City Manager March 1.
Due to the unusual way in which the Council handled the matter, there’s a question whether the appointment followed legal procedure, however.
The City Council emerged from an executive session and voted that Howard would be the next city manager. Although the appointment was made and a starting date announced, there appears to be a foggy area whether this strictly followed the state law governing hiring staff, according to one public official not associated with the City who wishes to remain anonymous because of the position held.
There was no public discussion about why Howard was appointed, nor about the internal search process and Howard’s winning qualification. The Council emerged from executive session and immediately went to a vote.
Here is a transcript of the action, taken from the video of the May 19 meeting:
Sammamish Comment 