Clyde Hill News: City liable in wrongful termination
City calls out 2025 budget “red flags;” rats, 2026 budget deficit plan not on agenda
The City of Clyde Hill wrongfully terminated a public works employee the same day he made a safety complaint, according to a determination by the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries obtained via public records request.
It’s not clear from publicly available information if the city will comply with the agency’s decision or appeal the matter.
The city’s expenditures on legal services are on the city’s “Red Flag List” after exceeding the year-to-date budget by over 30%, according to a document in Tuesday evening’s city council meeting packet (link).
Development revenue is below year-to-date budget by over 25%, according to the same document, which notes
“the City depends heavily on new development to fill the deficit in our operating budget.”
Also on Tuesday’s agenda (link): the city has scaled back its proposed $780K remodel of its public works shed, and signaled the delay of a proposed stormwater utility to 2027, blaming “turnover and competing priorities” for “slowed progress.” (link)
More on these topics below, but first: a golden retriever from Clyde Hill won the “Best behaved” award at the Points 4th of July celebrations last week:
Disclaimer: while I am a council member 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.
Big picture
For most residents, Clyde Hill remains a great place to live. This theme keeps coming through in my conversations with people who live here, especially when the weather lives up to the term “summer.”
At the same time, there’s been an uptick in residents asking me what options they have in the face of the city government’s performance. The city’s struggle to make progress on long-standing issues — the budget and a rat infestation, most recently — has led more residents to be concerned about their city’s administration.
If you’re interested in sitting down with other residents to discuss your concerns, please let me know by replying to this email (or sending email to info@clydehillnews.com).
And, to end this section on a positive note: confidence in Clyde Hill’s police department from both Clyde Hill and Yarrow Point residents continues. For example, residents have privately funded drones for the department (link), and state re-accreditation for the department appears to be on track (link).
“Workplace discrimination”
According to a document from a Washington State Department of Labor & Industries investigator:
“The evidence shows that Aaron Murk [a fired City of Clyde Hill employee] suffered workplace discrimination.
It’s not clear from publicly available information if the city will appeal the matter or reinstate Mr. Murk and pay a $5,000 fine and ~$35,000 in back wages.
The investigator noted that “The [city’s] disciplinary process was not followed” and there was no “Performance Improvement Plan” in place.
2025 budget “red flags”
The city’s “Budget Monitoring Report” for the second quarter of 2025 (link) identifies two “red flags:”
Development revenue, which fell short of year-to-date budget by 27.8%, or $140K.
Legal spending, which exceeded year-to-date budget by 31.8%, or $19.1K.
Legal spending refers to “fees paid to legal counsel.” The report continues:
We have seen an increase in claims against the City in 2025. Recommendations for reducing legal expenditures are limited to settling outstanding issues as quickly as possible.
While the city appears to be on track to exceed the planned 2025 budget deficit, it has not yet offered a budget amendment.
Stormwater utility, deferred
At Tuesday night’s council meeting, the City administration will seek “to confirm our understanding that implementation of a Stormwater utility should be delayed to 2027,” according to a memo in the packet (link).
At last month’s council meeting, there was no disagreement from council and staff on this statement:
“City staff has been clear that the stormwater utility is (1) an accounting tool to decrease the general fund deficit and (2) a new revenue stream for the city that avoids going to the voters.” (link)
The city has been paying consultants for the last five years to develop a plan for a stormwater utility. The public has not yet seen a proposal for rates.
Public Works’ shop remodel, scaled
At Tuesday night’s council meeting, the City administration will seek council approval for ~$300K for roof and restroom repairs to the Public Works workshop.
This plan has been scaled back from the original request for a $780K remodel, which met with negative public comment from several residents and the council.
The administration’s request includes “an allowance of $40,000 for construction administration services to be provided by the Public Works Director.” (link)
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Dean Hachamovitch