Paying the bills flared into a hot topic Monday at the Maple Valley City Council meeting.
City Councilwoman Linda Johnson walked out of the meeting rather than vote on paying a bill from the Seattle law firm Foster Pepper.
After Johnson walked out of the meeting, City Manager David Johnston explained to the council and audience that he hired Foster Pepper as a consultant to work on the community facilities districts legislation in Olympia.
The city manager said the earlier form of the legislation had numerous problems that had to be addressed to protect the city.
Johnson said her disagreement with the City Council was paying the Foster Pepper bill was “a violation of the law.”
According to Johnson, when four members of the council went to Olympia for an Association of Washington Cities conference Jan. 27-28 with legislators, they violated the open public meetings act and became involved in working to have the community facilities districts legislation changed.
The four members were Mayor Noel Gerken, Deputy Mayor Victoria Laise Jonas, Councilwoman Erin Weaver and Councilman Bill Allison.
Gerken said by phone Wednesday, “There was no violation of the open public meetings act, none. No action was taken. There is no foundation to this allegation.”
Johnson said by phone Tuesday it would have been better if the members had “come back and discussed the issues with the legislation (at a meeting), but they didn’t. And nobody ever said a word about a lobbying contract.”
The city manager said at the Monday meeting he authorized the hiring of Foster Pepper.
“I think there is a misunderstanding by certain people in this community that everything I do needs council approval,” Johnston said. “This bill (community facilities districts) was going to pass. I’m very disappointed in our trade organization. They did not understand our concerns.”
Later in the meeting the city manager said he did not hire Foster Pepper to lobby for the city, but as a consultant.
“We were buying expert consultation time, not a lobbyist,” Johnston said.
Mayor Noel Gerken said, “The city manager took it upon himself to fix this legislation. He has the authority. This is a good thing for Maple Valley.”
Gerken called the earlier form of the community facilities districts legislation, “fatally flawed…. Now at least it won’t do us harm, but there are still a lot of issues about it.”
Johnson said she was not disputing the Foster Pepper bill needed to be paid, but believes it is part of an “illegal act” because of her contention there was an open public meetings act violation at the AWC conference.
According to Johnson, at the Monday meeting she wanted to “ratify the action (contract with Foster Pepper), which would have made it legal.”
Johnson said she did not make a motion to ratify prior to walking out of the meeting. She returned to the meeting once the vote was taken on paying the Foster Pepper bill, which was approved by the six remaining members.
