The Sammamish City Council rejected a $1.57m design contract for Sahalee Way.
Voting to approve it were Tom Odell, Deputy Mayor Bob Keller and Kathy Huckabay.
Opposing were Ramiro Valderrama, Tom Hornish, Christie Malchow and Mayor Don Gerend.
Ramiro Valderrama
Bob Keller
Unless there is an unexpected shift in commitments among Sammamish City Council members, Ramiro Valderrama is out as Deputy Mayor and Bob Keller in.
Selection of the Deputy Mayor ordinarily occurs at the first Council meeting of the new year, which is tonight. The Mayor and Deputy Mayor are selected by the Council, not the voters, under the “weak mayor” form of City Manager government to which Sammamish was incorporated. The mayoral position is a two-year term. It’s not up for selection this year.
Long-standing divisions between two factions on the Sammamish City Council continued through behind-the-scenes maneuvering over the weekend, with Mayor Don Gerend becoming the deciding commitment to support Keller for the position.
A contract for the design of the controversial Sahalee Way road improvement project is up for a vote at Tuesday’s Sammamish City Council meeting.
Whether approved or rejected, the vote appears it will be a 4-3 split along the usual lines, with Mayor Don Gerend being the swing vote.
The project calls for a sidewalk along one side, bike lanes, a turning lane and additional stop lights between NE 25th and the Sammamish City Limits.
It does not extend to SR202, which is one mile beyond the City Limits. This means no improvements to Sahalee in this section, and this is one reason why three members of the City Council oppose the current plans.
Jennifer Kim
A group on Facebook that has about 1,000 followers formalized last night with its first meeting, at the Klahanie Fire Station 83 at Issaquah-Pine Lake Road and SE 32nd.
“Save Sammamish” is a group that discussed growth issues on Facebook. Created by Jennifer Kim, a two-year resident of Sammamish who moved here from California, the Facebook conversations are active if sometimes heated.
Kim distinguished herself from a large crowd in September when, during public comment at a City Council meeting discussing the prospect of a building moratorium, she came armed with facts and figures on a citywide basis instead of personal stories and emotional pleas.
About two dozen people attended the launch meeting, including Council Members Christie Malchow, Tom Hornish and Ramiro Valderrama. Council members Don Gerend, Kathy Huckabay, Bob Keller and Tom Odell did not attend.
The Sammamish City Council continues to dither while residents in the Tamarack subdivision suffer from stormwater drainage from uphill development and fish downstream are threatened by the same drainage.
In a contentious Council meeting last week, accusations flew that a tax hike of 5% for stormwater management was a thinly disguised effort to force the City to accept the entire responsibility for solving the drainage problems affecting Tamarack that have been more than 10 years in the making.
Sammamish Comment 