Tag Archives: Don Gerend

Fiscal irresponsibility at Sammamish City Hall

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Commentary

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Mayor Don Gerend

As the Sammamish City Council heads into its retreat tomorrow evening, there is one topic that will get short shrift: the City’s finances.

In Monday’s Sammamish Comment post, I outlined the City’s own 2017-2018 budget that has a 73% decline in its cash balance from the end of 2016 to the end 0f 2018.

The budget has a 30-minute allocation on the retreat agenda. It’s not enough, and the City Council has been ducking the budget ramifications for the last two years.

The City faces being out of cash in 2019 at the current spend rate. (See Operations vs Capital Funds, below.) Action needs to be taken this year. It’s been put off yet again.

There is simply no other way to put it: the City Council and Administration have been irresponsible to not face up to the coming budget realities sooner.

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A big win for citizens, transparency: Sammamish to live stream its retreat

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City_of_Sammamish

  • Update: Here’s the City’s email announcement:

Although there may be some technical obstacles to overcome, the city is planning to livestream the City Council retreat this weekend. If everything works, residents will be able to watch the proceedings from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 20, and from 7:30 a.m. to noon on Saturday, Jan. 21.

To watch the livestream, go to www.sammamish.us, click on the “news and events” tab, and then select “TV 21.” The retreat is being held at the Murano Hotel, 1320 Broadway Plaza, in Tacoma.

Sammamish will live stream its retreat in Tacoma this weekend.

Details have yet to be announced, including hours and days. The link will be https://www.sammamish.us, click on the “news and events” tab, and then select “TV 21.”

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Christie Malchow

The retreat begins Thursday night at 6pm with a Council dinner–it’s unclear if this informal session will be part of the live streaming, although Council business will inevitably be discussed.

The meat of the retreat is all day Friday and Saturday morning.

“I think this is a huge win,” said Council Member Christie Malchow, who proposed live streaming.

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Council befuddled over reacting to public; Planning Commission made recommendations in 2009

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Kathy Huckabay

The Sammamish City Council tonight is getting an earful from property owners along the East Lake Sammamish Trail, who are complaining once again that King County is running roughshod over their rights.

Council Member Kathy Huckabay lamented the procedural inability to have a dialog with residents during public comment. How, she asked, could there be a better dialog?

The answer came from the Planning Commission in 2009 in the form of a unanimous recommendation to have regularly scheduled town hall meetings.

Huckabay and Mayor Don Gerend were on the Council when the recommendations were forwarded from the Commission. In fact, Gerend was the mayor at the time.

The PC, in a 7-0 vote, included this recommendation in a series of proposals to improve communications with citizens. The recommendations were ignored.

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Oh woe is us, election season is just beginning again

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Sammamish: the year ahead, Part 1

And you thought the election season was over.

This is a new year and a new election season.

Sammamish

Four City Council seats are up for election in November.

City_of_SammamishIt’s widely assumed that at least one and possibly two residents of the greater Klahanie area will file for City Council. One Klahanie resident who’s publicly acknowledged his possible interest in Tom Harman, currently a commissioner for Sammamish Plateau Water.

The area was annexed for services to Sammamish in January 2015 but the political annexation didn’t take place until July, thus rendering some 3,000 voters ineligible to vote in the November 2015 City Council election. Council Member Ramiro Valderrama advocated an earlier political annexation but was out-voted 6-1, including by the four Members up for election this year.

These are:

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Analyzing the Sahalee Way improvement controversy

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Analysis

By Scott Hamilton

sahalee-roadThe Sammamish City Council once again debated the proposed improvements to Sahalee Way before voting down a design and engineering contract 4-3, split along the long-standing divisions between the H-3 and V-3 factions.

Mayor Don Gerend was, as he often is, the swing vote. He sided this time with the V-3, Ramiro Valderrama, Christie Malchow and Tom Hornish, to oppose approved a $1.57m contract.

The H-3 faction, Kathy Huckabay, Tom Odell and Bob Keller, are strong advocates for changes to Sahalee Way. Odell lives along the corridor. Keller and Huckabay live elsewhere in the City.

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