City Council members aired their displeasure and discontent Monday at the end of the Maple Valley City Council meeting.

The inciting incident revolved around an article published in the April 17 edition of The Reporter.

In the article, Noel Gerken voiced his concern about election year politics and potential leaks from an executive session.

The election-year politics referred to is a race between Stanette Marie Rose and incumbent Councilwoman Victoria Laise Jonas. The issue centered on a “Letter to the Editor” submitted by Rose accusing Jonas of being in favor of moving City Hall into a more expensive facility.

According to Rose she has “never received any information from an executive session.”

The leak concerned an April 6 executive session for real estate acquisition.

Gerken said in the article the political fireworks and leaks could “affect the City Hall space issue….”

At the meeting and Mayor Laure Iddings began the discussion by stating, “It was surprising to hear these things in the press. I understand it is a breach of our code of conduct.”

During a phone interview Tuesday when asked if she believed there were leaks from the session the mayor said, “no and neither do other council members.”

Iddings added that, “those were serious accusations from a legal standpoint. If there was a concern it should have been brought to the council. To find out through the press makes it difficult to work as a team.”

At the meeting Gerken said, “I took it upon myself to do this. I was motivated to take some action.”

Councilman David Pilgrim said he was “disappointed” The Reporter chose to publish the article and that other council members were not called prior to publication of the news story.

Councilwoman Victoria Laise Jonas said this was not the first incident of problems and noted five council members had earlier violated the open public meetings act.

Councilwoman Linda Johnson took issue with her statement noting that based on council minutes concerning the letter after it was written Jonas’ allegations are not correct.

The issue apparently refers to a letter published in the July 12, 2008 edition of The Reporter from five council members in response to an editorial written by Gerken July 5.

The five were Iddings, Johnson, councilmen Glenn Smith, Layne Barnes and Pilgrim.

During a phone interview Tuesday, Councilman Glenn Smith said, “We have strong individuals (on the council) who are expected to defend their beliefs. We have seven people who are doing a fantastic job. There is no leakage going on. I can’t speak for everyone, but I can speak for myself. And I know we have intelligent people in the audience and they can figure out what is going on.”

Rose has declared she will run for council seat No. 6 currently held by Jonas. The council woman who has not declared she is seeking