Clyde Hill News: Ratmageddon; City Administrator “disappointed” by public comment
Mayor cancels public meeting on budget crisis; King County Library access will not go to voters
At Tuesday night’s city council meeting, residents made clear the emotional toll of the last five years of city inaction, detailing their experience of a rat infestation and public health crisis in their neighborhood.
The City Administrator and staff, in response to residents’ demands for a clear plan and action, explained that the property owner was now cooperating with the city, and showed residents a one-slide proposal for a plan. At the time of the meeting, city staff had not yet shared the document with the property owner.
The city informed residents in an email on Friday, June 13th, that “The junk removal effort was completed today, approximately one week earlier than anticipated.”
A resident responded over the weekend with a photo from Saturday, June 14th, suggesting that the city’s update was inaccurate, and offering data that the rat problem was spreading out well past their neighborhood:
More about Tuesday night’s discussions, below.
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.
Library access to continue, unchallenged
In other news from Tuesday’s meeting: Clyde Hill voters will not see a measure about the city’s membership in the King County Library System (KCLS) on the ballot this year.
Many residents, as well as the Executive Director of KCLS, offered impassioned public comment Tuesday night. From the concluding statement from that part of the meeting:
“There appears to now be zero council votes for discussing this measure, much less considering it. Thank you for coming out and having the process work.” (link)
At the link, you can watch about 45 minutes of public comment in support of libraries that preceded that statement.
Budget, stealth-mode
Tuesday’s planned public meeting of the budget task force disappeared from the city’s website on Friday.
According to residents on the task force, Mayor Steve Friedman sent an email Friday afternoon saying that “this meeting won’t be accessible to the general public.” It’s not clear if there’s a precedent for this action.
City’s full-time professionals respond to residents’ public comment
From the point of view of many residents, the city’s administration has not done enough about the rat and public health issue.
What also emerged during an hour and fifteen minute back and forth discussion of the issue is how the administration’s communication (in both content and tone) has driven more resident anger and frustration. For example:
Resident Wayne Burns: “I read the city Administrator’s Weekly Report… when I look at the priorities, this [rat issue] is not listed as a priority. I think that says a lot, and I would like to know why this is not listed as a priority in your weekly report. Is it a priority for you or is it not? And if it’s a priority, why is it not listed as a priority in your weekly report?”
City Administrator Dean Rohla: “Good oversight. We can add that to the administrator’s report… Frankly, I didn’t do it that one week because I was busy.”
Resident Wayne Burns: “I’m not talking about just the one week…. What I’m talking about is every single week for the last eight months this hasn’t made your weekly report as a priority…. It’s not one oversight. It’s a complete lack of — I don’t know what….” (link)
Proposal, not plan, after five years
Earlier in the meeting, the city’s Director of Public Works clarified that the property owner “hasn’t seen this document yet” in response to resident questions about whether the homeowner had agreed to what appeared to be the city’s plan. (link)
Resident Jody Burns responded “So you’re showing this to us hoping that we’ll say ‘Oh thank you for what you’re doing.’ But the homeowner has not yet agreed to any of this.”
Resident Janine Dyer asked on “what day was it that [the property owner] actually reached out to you [the city] after five years of [this issue] going on?” The city’s Director of Public Works responded “I believe it was May, either May 19th or May 20th.”
“Dereliction of duty” and alleged untruths
Jody Burns commented that the city’s decisions and actions reflect “a dereliction of duty.” She continued, before asking for resignations:
“I think it’s pretty clear how frustrated we are and I think you all need to know that the problem… is every single one of you. You are our hired city administrators that we pay taxes to.”
Resident Elaheh Torkaman, addressing city staff, asked
“Why [are] you guys… here? You need to take care of the people. You[’re] paid for this job, so you need to take care of… my neighbors… if you cannot do something, maybe you could just quit your job. Get another job.”
Resident Stefanie Bell disagreed with administration statements bluntly: “What you’re telling me isn’t true,” and asked — in reference to state laws that residents believe the city could use to make more progress faster — “Why am I having to do the law here? I’m not a lawyer. How is it so easy for me to find this out?”
Ms Burns also took issue with administration claims. For example, citing an administration statement that the property owner did not know about the severity of the problem, Ms Burns said:
“That is a lie. I have seen [the owner] drive to that house many times in the last 15 years, screaming at her brother to clean up the mess, clean up the garbage.”
Ms Bell asserted that “This isn’t a cleanup issue. It’s a public health hazard that has existed for years.”
“The mental health toll”
Ms Burns spoke at length on “the mental health toll this [issue] has taken on our neighborhood.”
Resident Hossein Khorram noted the distress of his neighbors, adding “I just — I don’t understand this why this is happening” before he described how “a pleasant community turned into a nightmare.”
Administration response
City Administrator Dean Rohla said that “The city shares all of your concerns about this property.”
He acknowledged that complaints have been logged for five years, and described the city’s efforts. For example: “we have been trying to reach [the owner] and had not been able to.”
The Director of Public Works, Kevin Anderson, added that after the city heard back from the property owner,
“It was like, “Oh my god we finally got in touch with this person we’ve been reaching out to for months.’” (link)
With respect to clean up efforts, Mr. Anderson added that “There’s a lot of feces and rat urine and it’s been accumulating for a long time, and you can smell it from, you know, a ways away.” He also noted that the property owner has “been showing compliance, in one form or another.”
Administrator “disappointed” in public comment re: communication
Ahead of the discussion of the rat issue, resident Jared Wheeler provided public comment about poor communication, specifically regarding a question to the city about code enforcement that had gone unanswered for a month.
After the Director of Public Works explained that this was the first he had heard of the question and committed to responding this week, Mr. Wheeler continued:
The city administrator sat there quietly. I gave a nice pause for him to respond and he didn’t. So, my point going into this is: better communication. Ask a question, get an answer. You make a complaint about rats — do something about it. Don’t take five years. (link)
City Administrator Rohla responded to the public comment via email the next day:
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Dean Hachamovitch