Sammamish Council Retreat, Day 3: More on barricades; Community Outreach; and more

City_of_SammamishJan. 16, 2016: The third and last day of the Sammamish City Council Retreat saw yet a third run at the 42nd St. barricade issue.

(Our post yesterday has also been updated.)

Greg Reynolds, the leading proponent for removing the barricade, said City officials admitted the roadway on the west side of the barricade is unsafe, requiring action to fix the situation and remove the barricade, or it faces liabilities if it takes no action.

This is the other side of the same coin argued by a leading opponent who has since moved out of state, Rick Kuprewicz, who argued Sammamish would be opening itself to liabilities if it removed the barricade because of the unsafe road.

Sammamish inherited the problems, including the barricade and road design, from King County, which approved both before incorporation.

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Sahalee Way design contract, award to Republic Services on agenda for first Council meeting of 2016

Malchow

Christie Malchow will be sworn in as Sammamish City Council Member tomorrow.

Update, 6pm: The Sahalee Way contract has been from the new business agenda to the Consent Agenda.

Original Post:

The Sammamish City Council, with two new members, will be asked to award a contract to design the Sahalee Way road project and to award the refuse/recycling/yard waste contract to Republic Services at the first meeting of the New Year tomorrow.

The two contracts became mired in controversy under the previous Council, which had approved the “Final” Design of Sahalee Way and which was poised to approve the Republic contract when stopped after rival Waste Management obtained a temporary injunction blocking action. This injunction was lifted Dec. 22.

hornish

Tom Hornish will be sworn in as a Sammamish City Council Member tomorrow.

The Sahalee Way green light suddenly turned red when objections by Council Members Ramiro Valderrama and Nancy Whitten (who retired Dec. 31) and The Sammamish Comment revealed a fast track approach that eliminated public participation.

The two new Council Members, Tom Hornish and Christie Malchow, will have been sworn into office only a matter of minutes when they will be asked to approve these two controversial contracts.

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City Council leadership to be named at Jan. 5 meeting

Malchow

Christie Malchow

Valderrama

Ramiro Valderrama

hornish

Tom Hornish

Gerend 2

Don Gerend

The mayor and deputy mayor for the Sammamish City Council will be named tomorrow night at the first City Council meeting of the New Year.

Two new Council members will be sworn in.

The leadership roles have come down to Don Gerend, who has been on the Council since the first one was elected in 1999, and Ramiro Valderrama, who was reelected to his second term in November. It’s unclear who will be selected for a two year term as mayor and a one-year term as deputy mayor. The positions are selected by a vote of the seven member council, and not the public in a general election. This is due to Sammamish being a City Manager form of government with what’s called a weak mayor system.

The newcomers to the Council are Christie Malchow and Tom Hornish.

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Top 10 stories of 2015 in Sammamish

Sammamish Comment LogoHere are the Top 10 stories in Sammamish for 2015, as measured by readership on Sammamish Comment:

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Will “process” cost Sammamish taxpayers ~$7m?

  • Refuse, recycling, yard waste contract to be awarded
  • Waste Management (WM) claims its bid is $6m-$7m lower over seven years than Republic Services
  • The City Council was prepared to award contract to Republic Dec. 1
  • WM obtained injunction blocking action; court lifted injunction Dec. 22
  • Council to consider contract as early as Jan. 5 meeting
  • WM appeals to Council to overrule Staff recommendation
  • Sammamish taxpayers pay the bill
  • Full story below the page break

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