Many of you have been following the newspaper articles in the Reporter documenting the problems our (Maple Valley) mayor, Bill Allison, has been having of late. If you have missed them I strongly recommend you go into the Reporter website and search for Bill Allison. There are two articles and they are worth reading. The Voice of the Valley has a link on their homepage for the KIRO TV segment that was on TV August 15 and 16 after the second article in the Reporter. In that interview I stated that I thought the mayor should resign.

Many citizens have come to me, especially after the first article, telling me experiences and stories and have asked me, “What are you going to do about this?”

(City) Council discussed this issue once in an open forum before the police investigation was completed and issued. Then we had an executive session and discussed the issue again after the investigation was issued. No further action has been taken.

If the mayor won’t voluntarily resign as mayor, council has the authority to remove him with a super majority vote of five councilors. With seven council members we did not have a super majority and after Councilor (Victoria Laise) Jonas resigned that left council with six members and no super majority. The other possible action would be a recall election initiated by the citizens to remove him from council entirely.  But the issue that concerns me the most is this: Many people have thanked me for my strong consistent position on this matter and have said repeatedly, “Somebody needs to do something,” the implication being that “I” need to do something. I agree that somebody’ needs to do something but I am only one of seven City Council members.

When the citizens wanted ball fields council was inundated with emails, letters and public comments at council meetings. When council was considering a new waste hauling contract for the city, council was inundated with emails, letters and public comments at council meetings. But with this issue before us all we have gotten are private conversations. These stories that have been told to me need to be shared publicly, otherwise they are only gossip. When interviewed on the KIRO TV segment on Maple Valley I said that I thought the mayor should resign. This has not made me very popular with my fellow council members. We say on council “pick your battles,” and this is not one I can win alone. Maple Valley has won several awards naming it “Most Livable City” and I believe it is worth the effort to maintain that designation. I agree “somebody needs to do something.”

As a child when I would make statements like that my mother would say. “Well, you are somebody.”

Are you somebody?

Linda Johnson

City Council Position 7

Maple Valley