Clyde Hill News: “The city’s budget crisis is an existential threat”
Council to consider “professional leadership and the budget crisis” at special meeting on Tuesday
Securing Clyde Hill’s future requires new professional leadership, according to a document included in the agenda for Tuesday night’s city council meeting:
“The Council’s primary concern is adopting a sustainable budget that avoids excessive tax increases and new fees. This starts with having a City Administrator who can balance the city’s budget.”
The city council’s push is for a new professional administrator, rather than no professional administrator.
A document titled “Professional leadership and the budget crisis” (link) in the meeting agenda acknowledges the recent “messy and confusing” exchanges between Mayor Steve Friedman and the city council and suggests
if you step back from the finger-pointing, procedural maneuvering, and other drama, it’s quite simple: It’s about the urgent need to balance the budget and opposing views on how to do it.
The council’s vote to eliminate the City Administrator’s position occurred only “after Mayor Friedman refused to take decisive action” and the council could not “persuade Mayor Friedman to hire a more competent City Administrator:”
The Council’s recent use of its authority to eliminate the position of City Administrator was a decision of last resort. Prior to exercising its authority, the Council made several unsuccessful attempts to discreetly address a wide range of concerns with the current City Administrator’s job performance. Despite these appeals, the City Council has been unsuccessful in its attempts to persuade Mayor Friedman to hire a more competent City Administrator. The City Council’s 3-2 decision to eliminate the City Administrator’s role only occurred after Mayor Friedman refused to take decisive action.
The meeting agenda acknowledges and thanks “the residents who suggested and helped draft this document.” The full document is reproduced below for convenience.
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.
Below, the document included in the meeting packet for the February 25, 2025 special meeting.
Professional leadership and the budget crisis
Securing Clyde Hill’s future requires effective leadership
February 2025
This document supplements the Mayor’s recent letters to the community. It’s written from the City Council’s point of view, and offers necessary context for residents to fully understand the situation and appreciate all that is at stake.
Our situation
Clyde Hill has been running annual budget deficits for the last five years. The deficit grows with each new budget cycle, as does the likelihood of significant increases in property taxes, new taxes, and fees. Clyde Hill’s dwindling cash reserves will only last a few more years, underscoring the urgency of balancing the budget. The city’s budget crisis is an existential threat, and our future depends on a balanced budget. As a resident, you deserve to be fully informed. You should be concerned.
On the surface, this schism appears messy and confusing—especially the recent communications between the Mayor and City Council. But if you step back from the finger-pointing, procedural maneuvering, and other drama, it’s quite simple: It’s about the urgent need to balance the budget and opposing views on how to do it.
The City Administrator, Dean Rohla, is the person most responsible for getting us into this budget crisis and has repeatedly failed to demonstrate that he can lead us out of it. He has yet to offer a solution to the problem, and the City Council has lost confidence in his ability to do so.
The Council’s primary concern is finding a financially sustainable path forward that will retain the quality of life we enjoy in Clyde Hill. This starts with professional, trustworthy leadership that the community and city staff can believe in. This includes a willingness to work collaboratively with the City Council, ruthlessly prioritize the most important city services, communicate effectively, and make difficult tradeoffs in the face of onerous new requirements from our state government.
The budget crisis
The city has been running budget deficits since at least 2020. On the current course and speed, the administration’s finance professional projects that the cumulative deficit for the 2025-2030 period will total a staggering $4.3m. Further, this sobering projection includes revenue from a “stormwater utility” (a new tax) that the Council has yet to approve. If the stormwater utility tax is not implemented, the current $4.3m deficit projection could be significantly worse.
The position of City Administrator
The City Administrator is the most important paid staff position in Clyde Hill. The City Administrator oversees all city operations, including the police force, public works and infrastructure, building permits and code enforcement, and financial operations. The City Administrator reports directly to the mayor, and all major staff functions report to the City Administrator. Importantly, the City Administrator is also the person responsible for developing a sustainable, balanced budget and presenting it to the City Council and community.
Council’s concerns with the City Administrator’s leadership and integrity
The City Council’s concerns with the City Administrator are not new. The Council has observed that Dean Rohla has:
Presided over long-standing and growing deficits. The budget deficits and lack of communication, clarity, and options to address the problem are the City Administrator's responsibility.
Been absent from meetings that seek to find a budget solution. Mayor Friedman and Cm Sinwell are leading the recently formed Financial Sustainability task force. The city’s most senior professional full-time employee, the City Administrator, has been absent from these discussions.
Failed to effectively manage his staff. In January of 2025, the Assistant City Administrator made a troubling statement regarding the need to “sell” the public on a tax hike by deceptively representing the increase as a way to fund the police force, and then spending that money on other city services. This shows a troubling lack of judgment and transparency, as well as a lack of management on the part of the City Administrator. Other examples are readily available.
Exercised poor judgment regarding the use of Clyde Hill’s cash reserves. The City Administrator’s statements advocating the use of reserves (to cover the city’s deficit until taxes can be raised) were also inappropriate and another example of poor judgment.
Been unresponsive to resident inquiries and concerns. There is currently a significant backlog of unanswered resident questions and concerns dating back to the October 7, 2024, public hearing. The fact that the current City Administrator has not addressed these dozen or so resident concerns is a distressing dereliction of duty.
Given the City Administrator’s poor performance – at a time when we need thoughtful leadership – the City Council sees no coherent argument to continue to support the senior leadership team in its current form. As a City Council, we are not confident that the City Administrator will resolve $4.3m deficit in five years – especially if he can’t resolve this year’s $200K deficit.
Finding a way forward to serve residents
The Council’s primary concern is adopting a sustainable budget that avoids excessive tax increases and new fees. This starts with having a City Administrator who can balance the city’s budget. The City Council believes that the City Administrator is the most important and consequential position in Clyde Hill. So why did the Council vote to eliminate this position?
The Council’s recent use of its authority to eliminate the position of City Administrator was a decision of last resort. Prior to exercising its authority, the Council made several unsuccessful attempts to discreetly address a wide range of concerns with the current City Administrator’s job performance. Despite these appeals, the City Council has been unsuccessful in its attempts to persuade Mayor Friedman to hire a more competent City Administrator. The City Council’s 3-2 decision to eliminate the City Administrator’s role only occurred after Mayor Friedman refused to take decisive action.
Mayor Friedman subsequently vetoed the Council’s 3-2 vote. (Note, the Mayor can veto any ordinance, but a “super majority” vote, such as 4-1 or 5-0, can override the veto).
After vetoing the measure, Mayor Friedman has sent two letters explaining his decision to the community. We think his written claims are beneath the dignity of the mayor’s office and do not merit a response. We invite any members of the community with questions or concerns to reach out to us directly.
Signed,
(Names of Council members who choose to sign)
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Dean Hachamovitch