Clyde Hill News: Residents will choose form of government in November
Also: Brandolini's law; the Mayor’s enforcement position paper
Clyde Hill residents will vote in November on this ballot measure: “Shall the city of Clyde Hill adopt the council-manager form of government and abandon the mayor-council form of government?” What this means, from a resident point of view, and how we got here, below.
In other news, it’s the time of year we live near Seattle for:
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!
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 City Council voted 5-0 Tuesday night to hold an election this November on a measure concerning Clyde Hill’s form of government.
Here’s where we are
Clyde Hill residents gathered over 150 signatures on a petition to put Clyde Hill’s form of government to a vote of the people. The City Council met Tuesday night to determine when that vote will take place.
As City Attorney Tom Brubaker said Tuesday night (link), there will be a vote. “The petition has been certified as sufficient…. The petition calls for an election. An election will happen.”
Councilmember Steve Friedman set context at the meeting for the ballot measure: “This is the result of Clyde Hill residents following a process described by Washington state law: they circulated a petition, they obtained signatures from registered voters, and King County’s Department of Elections verified and certified those signatures and now, we’re here.”
“The City of Clyde Hill, both the Council and the administration, had nothing to do with this process,” he continued.
He also commented on the reasons behind the petition: “Some residents asked about the motivations behind a change. The resident who started this effort sent an email last week stating her reasons.” You can read her email here (link, page 17).
Cm Friedman continued: “It appears to be a very sincere attempt to improve Clyde Hill City government. It has nothing to do with her self-interest or a personal attack on any official and that email that she sent is included in the packet this evening.”
Avoiding confusion on the ballot
The ballot measure, absent Council consideration, would have appeared on the November 2023 ballot — right next to an item asking Clyde Hill voters to choose a mayor. The City Attorney described how confusing this would be (link).
Washington State empowers City Councils to select election dates for change of government ballot measures for just this reason. Councilmember Friedman said that “It appears the State, in order to avoid voter confusion, has given the Council the authority to choose which election between now and the next vote for mayor” should include the ballot measure.
Councilmember Jones concurred about the “complexities” of leaving the measure on the November 2023 ballot.
The Council considered voter turnout from previous elections in evaluating what date to pick. Interim Special Election dates in February, April, and August of 2023 have much lower King County (KC) voter turnout than November dates:1
The Mayor, in reference to expected voter turn out in November compared to Special Elections, offered that
“Something as serious as this, you may want to target the best opportunity for voters to get out there and voice their opinion.” — Mayor Klaas (link)
What does it mean for residents?
Residents have about four months to work through the merits of changing to council-manager and compare that to the merits of staying with the mayor-council form of government.
I’ve written a little about this topic in previous newsletters (link) to provide context for the petition and the concepts around “form of government.” For readers who really want to dig in, I recommend this page at MRSC.org (link).
I also wrote that there are valid arguments for and against keeping the current form of government. Very few have been aired to date. The residents who gathered signatures on the petition have been focused on getting the issue to the ballot. We’ll see what they put together. Residents who have opposed the petition will likely put their thoughts out as well. To date, in arguing against this change, some of the information they’ve provided has been less than accurate. More on this below.
For now, in terms of what this means for residents, I’m processing the information and thinking about it. If you have thoughts, please reply to this mail and let me know.
Brandolini’s Law
“The amount of energy needed to refute BS is an order of magnitude larger than is needed to produce it.” That’s Brandolini’s Law.
In his remarks framing the discussion, Councilmember Friedman said that “There’s a great deal of information going around the community about this matter – much of it involves, as I wrote to the City Administrator, unvalidated conclusions that are seemingly non-factual.”
After the Public Comments session Tuesday, Councilmember Muromoto commented:
I’m really saddened by the amount of vitriol and the attacks against councilmembers. I understand that the citizens have a right to their opinions… I am just so saddened that rather than talk through the merits of a vote, rather than talk to the merits of a date — I counted probably ten votes “No” of which eight included total vitriol and attacks against councilmembers which saddens me.
I recommend listening to his full remarks here (link).
One resident wrote asking for “The facts, nothing but the facts. The issue at hand can be evaluated on its own merits rather than rumors being spread.” I’m thinking through what could help there. Again, your thoughts and feedback welcome.
Also: Mayor’s enforcement memo surprises
The City posted a document from the Mayor (“Code Enforcement- A Position Statement,” link), dated Saturday June 25th. Here’s how it starts:
City Councilmembers have all stated that they believe there is a problem with code enforcement. As Mayor, I do not, and here’s why.
What’s interesting about the document, and surprising to me, is that it ignores the last six months of consistent, well-documented feedback from the entire City Council. The document, candidly, is all over the map, ranging from:
Accusing four unnamed households in Clyde Hill of filing “retaliatory complaints,” to
Blaming the 2021 Flag Code Debacle2 on the City Council, to
Committing the Administration to changing the municipal code’s chapter on enforcement, even though the current disagreement is about policy that both Council and Administration agree isn’t even written down in one place yet.
The other surprise is that neither the Mayor nor City Staff informed Councilmembers about the document. Councilmembers found out about the document after City Staff posted a link to it on NextDoor.
I’m still making sense of the document and don’t have much more to say about it right now.
Thanks for reading! Hope you have a happy and safe 4th of July. Please forward and share with your friends and neighbors, and if you are not already getting this newsletter, subscribing is both easy and free.
Dean Hachamovitch
For reference, the turnout in King County for the November 2018 was 75% — lower than the 86% of 2020, and 2x the turnout of Special Elections. In general, Clyde Hill and King County voter turnout are about the same.