This issue, the last of the year, looks back on 2022 from a resident’s point of view: what mattered and what should we keep in mind as we head into 2023?
First, an alert that there’s double trash and recycle collection this week, as hazardous road conditions and weather interfered with last week’s collection:
If you find this newsletter useful or interesting, please forward it to your Clyde Hill neighbors and friends. Thank you!
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.
The Top Five
From a resident’s point of view, here are the top issues from 2022. More detail on each one follows below.
The Budget. Clyde Hill plans to have its biggest budget — and largest budget deficit ever — in 2023. This is not sustainable.
Legal Representation. Clyde Hill has an approved contract for its legal representation for the first time in over 30 years… and why it matters.
Administration’s Trustworthiness Problems. Clyde Hill police officers expressed “a clear lack of trust in the administration” and the city council voted 5-0 expressing its “lack of confidence in the Mayor’s performance.” What’s the plan now?
Election Misinformation, and Prop 1. Residents voted down a measure to change the form of government. The campaign might have been more important than the result.
Daily Operational Administration. The bulk of city spending and activity (that make up the reality of a resident’s experience) happens quietly, day by day. The results are uneven.
#1. The Budget
Clyde Hill plans to have its biggest budget — and largest budget deficit ever — in 2023. This is not sustainable.
The City plans to run a deficit of ~$490,000, spending $5.68 million against revenues of $5.19 million.
To balance the budget, the City will transfer money from the reserve fund as it did in 2022, 2021, and 2020. (The reserve fund reflects a one-time spike in City revenues from the Clyde Hill Elementary and Middle School construction projects several years ago; link).
From a resident’s point of view
The budget situation is not good and also not sustainable.
Reserves are finite. Spending more money than comes in doesn’t make sense. And, at the same time, the Administration wrote “We are not able to deliver a balanced budget.” More detail on that available here (link, and link).
Starting in April 2022, the city council pushed for action on this issue after the fourth year of an unsustainable budget deficit was clearly the plan. Councilmembers Steve Friedman and Bruce Jones worked with city staff to figure out a plan to address this problem. The administration is scheduling a meeting in January to follow up.
#2: Legal Representation
Clyde Hill has an approved contract for its legal representation for the first time in over 30 years. Here’s why it matters.
In April, the city council approved the Administration’s recommendation to contract with Lighthouse Law Group. This followed a 5-0 rejection in March of the Administration’s puzzling attempt to hire a current City of Bellevue councilmember as Clyde Hill’s city attorney.
For context, in December 2021, the city’s previous law firm of 33 years quit with two weeks’ notice. Interim legal services were an unplanned expense that left an impact on the 2022 budget.
The change in legal representation had been a long time coming. In May of 2021, the Administration admitted it had no legal services contract in place. After three months of no progress, the city council approved a measure in August of 2021 pushing the Administration to fix the problem. (For more details, here’s the Administration’s 2022 memo (link) and a back issue of Clyde Hill News with background (link).)
From a resident’s point of view
This change counts as good progress.
Good legal counsel provides an important check on local government. Clyde Hill had a series of puzzling decisions (e.g. the flag code debacle, cutting the Mercia Hedge, code enforcement in general) that affected residents over the last few years. With the new law firm, Administration decisions are starting to appear more sensible in general. Also, as a baseline, this change shows branches of local government working together and achieving a consensus.
#3: Administration’s Trustworthiness Problems
Clyde Hill police officers expressed “a clear lack of trust in the administration” and the city council voted 5-0 expressing its “lack of confidence in the Mayor’s performance.” What’s the plan now?
The last few months have brought a steady flow of puzzling and distressing news regarding the Mayor, city administrator, and Clyde Hill police officers.
“The Trust Problems at City Hall” (link) offers a recap of the issues, as does this memo from December’s city council meeting packet (link). The most recent update, “‘Lack of confidence in the mayor’s performance,’ Council votes 5-0,” is here (link).
From the harassment claim against the city administrator, to the revelation that the city administrator called a police officer “homeboy,” to the surprise of Clyde Hill police officers at the lack of documentation or disciplinary action by the Mayor in response to that incident, to an unprecedented letter from the union representing the police, and more — the year brings to mind Queen Elizabeth II’s “Annus horribilis” speech (link).
From a resident’s point of view
Each incident is troubling, and the larger lack of trust and confidence that resulted from the incidents is troubling.
The lack of a plan to address the problems and the lack of progress over the last several months, given the importance of public safety to the community, is distressing.
#4: Election Misinformation, and Prop 1
Residents voted down a measure to change the form of government. The campaign might have been more important than the result.
In November, Clyde Hill residents voted down a ballot measure about local government after a nearly $10,000, one-man campaign (link) against it that brought misinformation to Clyde Hill.
In the spring of 2022, some residents circulated a petition and obtained enough signatures to put the ballot measure regarding Clyde Hill’s form of government in front of Clyde Hill voters. The point of the effort, according to the Clyde Hill resident who led it, was to have a public conversation about what’s best for Clyde Hill.
An acrimonious campaign kept that conversation from happening. Instead, the “No on Prop 1” campaign focused on allegations that councilmembers used city resources for personal pet projects and other abuses. While the Mayor and city attorney were clear that these allegations are unfounded, that information came out after the vote (link).
The Mayor actually contributed to the misinformation problem with a bizarre, highly-speculative cost memo concerning the ballot measure. The memo was so egregious that the city council passed a measure expressing
“its disappointment that the Mayor released such an inappropriate, non-factual, and thoroughly political document rather than working with Council to collaborate on something that would serve the public with factual and specific information.” (link)
From a resident’s point of view
The good news is that the process mostly works. Other than the Mayor’s memo (and the uneventful investigation of it1), the machinery of local government and King County Elections operated smoothly. There were a lot of signs all over the neighborhood, and then everyone moved on.
The not-so-good news is that as a community, we lost an opportunity to discuss “how can Clyde Hill be better?” There was no room for that conversation, even as problems with the current administration were still emerging during the election, in the face of a campaign focused on the nonfactual.2
#5: Daily Operational Administration
The bulk of city spending and activity (that make up the reality of a resident’s experience) happens quietly, day by day. The results are uneven.
Much of city government is working well — quietly, even, and behind the scenes — in ways that help residents.
Looking at the updates from Public Works, or the Building Department, you’ll see things operating smoothly. For example, roads are clear of snow and trees after storms. The same is true for Clyde Hill’s police. You’ll see lots of activity related to keeping the city operating in the Administrator’s Weekly Report: managing bids, applying for funds and grants, both federal and state, and working with other Points Communities on shared issues.
There are some examples of progress in planning and executing on improvements. In 2022, there were many updates to Clyde Hill’s Municipal Code (CHMC) and related materials: updating drainage requirements will help resident safety with respect to flooding, the master fee schedule no longer asks residents to pay the city’s legal fees when appealing a city decision, and Clyde Hill now has by-laws to ensure less ambiguity and smoother operations.
At the same time, there are some dismaying and puzzling lapses. Good administration requires clear answers and agreeing on facts. Getting a clear answer is too hard too often. This situation makes the administration’s trustworthiness problems worse. For example:
Specifically, there was progress addressing code enforcement and compliance issues by providing clearer guidance to residents (link)…. which came after months of obstruction and denial from the Administration. The Mayor wrote that “City Councilmembers have all stated that they believe there is a problem with code enforcement. As Mayor, I do not, and here’s why,” (link) even as staff described the lack of documentation and clarity around enforcement.
Attempts to stymie discussions, or keep them out of public discussion by claiming attorney-client privilege3 or the need for an executive session, spanned far too many topics, including code enforcement, the city administrator’s questionable actions and the subsequent lack of consequences, and stormwater issues affecting residents near 17th.
More broadly, lack of clarity is an endemic administration problem. It’s not just the absence of a plan from the Mayor to address police officers’ lack of trust. The administration’s plan to deliver a Comprehensive Plan update (required by state law) changed several times over 2022; the city administration appears to have pushed out an update on this matter to February after promising one in January.
Things that should be easy are hard. To offer an example that resonated earlier with readers: the Mayor claimed in June that one staffer’s “role is pretty much 90% dealing with public records requests.” In July, the staffer agreed with a councilmember that “roughly half [his] time,” not 90%, was a more accurate assessment. The Mayor stood by her claim; I struggled to distill and summarize her statement, which you can watch here:
From a resident’s point of view
The results are… mixed.
Residents appreciate the kind of strong, consistent, professional behavior they experience from police, the building permitting and inspection process, and public works.
At the same time, clear answers, clear plans, and clear rules are reasonable things to expect from the administration that — far too often — the administration simply does not provide.
Looking ahead to next year…
The most important issues — like a sustainable budget, or addressing the problems that cause police officers to lack trust in the Mayor and city administrator — are easy to identify.
There’s a bunch of other work that needs to happen to keep the city running, and to comply with state laws, and to deliver on commitments to residents and other agencies.
January will bring a clean slate and fresh start on these, and other, problems and opportunities.
… and thanking you.
One more note in closing: thank you to everyone who subscribes, reads, responds to, or forwards this newsletter.
This newsletter goes out every week because I believe that Clyde Hill’s residents are better off knowing what’s going on.
I decided to research and write this newsletter, rather than shrug and give up, after comparing experiences with other residents and seeing a pattern of shared concerns. I appreciate the emails and in person comments (both positive and other!) from you.
The newsletter will be back in January. Wishing you a happy new year, and thanking you for reading —
Dean Hachamovitch
Please forward and share with your friends and neighbors, and if you are not already getting this newsletter, subscribing is both easy and free.
The Washington State Public Disclosure Commission (“Regulating Candidates, Campaigns, and Lobbyists”) investigated the Mayor’s actions in response to residents’ complaints about this memo. The case was later closed “with No Evidence of Violations.”