Tag Archives: Tom Hornish

Sammamish Council struggles with public comment

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Sammamish Retreat 2017

The Sammamish City Council Friday split over how much public comment is allowed at regular meetings and study sessions.

It’s a balance between giving the public as much latitude as possible while managing the Council’s time. Recent Council meetings had public comment sessions that have gone two hours or more. The resulted in Council meetings going past midnight vs a 10pm target.

Public comment sessions are limited today to three minutes for an individual and five minutes for a recognized group.

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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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  • 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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City considers live streaming Retreat, with some internal opposition

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City_of_SammamishThe Sammamish City Council is considering live webcast streaming of its annual retreat, a move that may be a first among governments in the great Seattle region.

The retreat will begin Thursday night with a 6pm dinner and continue to noon Saturday. It’s at the Murano Hotel in Tacoma.

The Murano is about an hour’s drive from Sammamish in normal rush hour traffic. Tacoma was chosen for the second year in a row in lieu of the City’s historic location at the Suncadia Resort in Roslyn, east of the Cascades. The driving time is about the same, provided there aren’t any snow issues or closures over Snoqualmie Pass.

Council Member Christie Malchow proposed the live webcast. City Manager Lyman Howard opposed the idea, reflecting an opinion from the facilitator hired for the retreat.

Council Members Ramiro Valderrama and Tom Hornish strongly supported Malchow. Members Tom Odell, Kathy Huckabay and Bob Keller gave general support, with some reservations or questions. Huckabay and Keller expressed support for taping the meeting rather than broadcasting it live.

Odell expressed general support but also some reservations.

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Sammamish, County once again head for confrontation over Lake Trail

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City_of_SammamishProperty owners along the East Lake Sammamish Trail in the middle section, called 2B, in Sammamish this week implored the City Council to intervene on their behalf in their long-running conflicts with King County over final development of the trail.

Section 2B runs from roughly from the 7-11 on East Lake Sammamish Parkway north to Inglewood Hill Road.

A score of residents asked Sammamish to rescind permits for the section.

Actually, one permit application for designing the trail has been deemed “complete.” However, this permit remains in review.

Another application, for clearing and grading, was deemed by the City as incomplete. The County filed a lawsuit over this determination and is seeking damages, said City Attorney Mike Kenyon.

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