Clyde Hill News: Police union expresses concerns with conduct of city management

Clyde Hill Police assist in arrest for assault (includes video); also, Clyde Hill’s “Good Witch”

“The union representing Clyde Hill police officers sent a letter ‘to express [their] concerns’ regarding the performance and conduct of Mayor Klaas and City Administrator Rohla,” according to an item (link) in the City Council meeting packet published Friday. This, and other items of interest from next week’s City Council meeting, below.

First, “The Good Witch of Clyde Hill:” resident Jill Zimmerman’s commitment to Halloween was featured in October’s Greet West Bellevue (formerly Points Living):

image from article at https://www.strollmag.com/locations/the-points-living-wa/articles/-bd2454/

One more item before our disclaimer: if you find this newsletter useful or interesting, please forward it to your Clyde Hill neighbors and friends. Thank you!

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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. The 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.

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The packet for this month’s City Council meeting is now available (link). Here are a few items that might be of particular interest for residents:

Police Union expresses “concerns” re conduct of Mayor and City Administrator

The union that represents Clyde Hill’s police officers appears to have sent a letter to the city expressing concerns with the performance and conduct of Mayor Klaas and City Administrator Rohla (link).

While the actual letter is not available to the public at this time, the memo in the meeting packet does offer that

the issues raised in the letter represent the perspective of police officers. We have to take them seriously. The issues are significant and of concern to the community, and can’t be rationalized away.

Last month, the Council discussed morale and trust issues in the context of a police officer exit interview. There have been other discussions of related issues. The contents of this letter offer additional information.

Tuesday’s meeting includes an agenda item for “Discussion of Council Concerns re: Problems with Administration/Police relations.”

Public comment ahead of Prop 1 resolution

The City Council will consider a resolution “Endorsing Ballot to Change the Form of Government.”

This ballot measure is Clyde Hill Prop 1. For more information, you can read the King County Elections website here (link) or check out last week’s newsletter where I tried to recap the issues (link).

Ahead of this vote, according to the agenda, there will be time “affording members… of the public an approximately equal opportunity” to express their views.

I admit I’m scratching my head at this one. The decision is up to Clyde Hill voters. Clyde Hill residents circulated a petition, following the legal process, and obtained the signatures they needed for the measure to appear on the ballot. The City Council did its job: it approved the official text of the measure and picked which election the voters would see the measure at. It’s not clear to me why the City Council or Mayor would take an official position on the issue.¹

I’ve gotten some super, super thoughtful emails about Prop 1. Some residents have suggested that it’s too much, and others that it’s not enough. Just like social media, the discussion Tuesday night will reflect who bothers to show up and will likely offer both accurate and creative representations of facts.

Clyde Hill Police assist in arrest for assault

This month’s police report (link) has one item that I want to call out:

(Yes, there was another item about “Fireworks set off inside of a honey bucket.”)

The level of cooperation between the Bellevue, Medina, and Clyde Hill police departments is something I wasn’t aware of before I started writing this newsletter. This arrest in Bellevue last month for assault offers a good example.

Witnesses (according to local news coverage) said they saw a “man climb onto a FedEx truck and punch the driver in the face” in Bellevue last month (link):

“Officers found the man and his family a few blocks away. He refused to cooperate and became physically aggressive with officers before resisting and eventually being arrested.”

Clyde Hill Police Officer Michael Humphreys was in Bellevue at the time and, from the police report obtained via public records request, “advised [911] dispatch that he located the subjects,” leading to the arrest.

Of course, social media had lots of different takes on this. This tweet is of a video that that appears to be of the arrest and appears to include Cpl Humphreys:

from twitter

Other agenda items at the meeting

The meeting will cover other topics as well; again, you can see all of them here (link).

For example, residents can expect discussions of Legislative Priorities for 2023, as well as recurring topics like Code Enforcement/Land Use Code Update, the 17th St Stormwater Project, next year’s budget, and the comprehensive plan.

City staff will present on public works, building inspections and permits, city finances, and police and fire activity. Staff will present, and then the Council will vote on, a change to the municipal code regarding drainage in order to maintain compliance with requirements from the Washington State Department of Ecology and National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES).

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Dean Hachamovitch

1. The majority of the Council is focused on government, not political posturing. As an example:

Clyde Hill News: Mayor’s cost estimate “inappropriate, non-factual, and thoroughly political,” Council agrees 3-0