Clyde Hill News: Patching the city’s criminal code
Updates for drug possession expected; also: unclear progress, on budget, comprehensive plan
Clyde Hill has new laws on its books related to anti-harassment protection orders and the duty to report abuse of a minor child, following Tuesday night’s city council meeting.
Administration officials characterized the changes as “patches of omissions in our criminal code” and set expectations that more updates are ahead.
Below, comments from the police chief, city prosecutor, and city attorney as well as updates on activity to address the city’s budget deficit and comprehensive plan and also hire a lobbyist.
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Disclaimer: while I am a councilmember on the Clyde Hill City Council, I write this newsletter in my capacity as an individual resident. Any opinions expressed are my own and not necessarily the position of the City. City information and references here are from public sources. I welcome email responses — and if the topic is about City business I will respond from my City email account.
New laws, and more to come
Following the recommendation of the police chief, city prosecutor, and city attorney, the city council approved ordinances updating the city’s criminal code related to anti-harassment protection orders and the duty to report abuse of a minor child.
For context, Clyde Hill PD’s activity report has included an uptick in protection order violations as well as issues related to minors at local schools. For more detail, please look at last week’s newsletter (link), specifically “New laws to protect the vulnerable:”
Patching omissions
The city’s prosecutor, Blakeley Warbinton with the firm Moberly & Roberts, explained changes to the state law to the community and council, concluding with this recommendation:
In order to be able to successfully move forward… with prosecuting [protective] order violations, my office recommends that we adopt Title VII chapter 105. (link)
City Attorney Tom Brubaker introduced the second measure, related to the duty to report abuse of a minor:
I believe these are sort of patches of omissions in our criminal code. There are other statutes that we could be adding in case they come up, and I hope to work with them [Chief of Police Kolling and Commander Hanson]… you may see another ordinance come back that’s much more expansive…. (link)
And more to come
Chief of Police Kyle Kolling concurred with the city attorney, and offered that he had
contacted… [city prosecutors] Moberly Roberts as well, and they’re already looking at the Blake decision… [drug possession has] gone from a felony to a… gross misdemeanor. We will also be adopting in the near future here an ordinance to deal with [drug] possession.
Activity and unclear progress
Tuesday night’s meeting also discussed activity related to addressing the city’s budget deficit and comprehensive plan. It’s not clear if there’s been progress to report since the previous update a month ago.
Possible lobbyist?
The City Administrator announced that the city is considering a lobbyist:
Looking ahead to the 2024 Legislative Session, the City of Clyde Hill is exploring a partnership with Medina and the other Points Cities to hire a joint lobbyist to represent our interests in Olympia. Medina is taking the lead on this effort. They already have a lobbyist for other matters and will work with all the Points cities to develop shared legislative priorities. (link)
I’m still processing this one… it’s not clear to me if this kind of political activity is better left to residents to organize, or if it makes sense at the city level.
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Dean Hachamovitch