Editor’s note: The following letter was read by Black Diamond Mayor Rebecca Olness at the Aug. 19 City Council meeting.

Black Diamond staff, City Council and concerned citizens:

I understand it has been suggested at the Aug. 5th City Council meeting that XTERRA Black Diamond made contributions to Rebecca Olness’ campaign for mayor. This is not correct.

As a point of clarification, XTERRA Black Diamond is the name of the event held at the Lake Sawyer Park site. The event is owned by my company, Raise the Bar LLC, which is operated from my home office in Covington. XTERA is a brand name we pay Team Unlimited LLC to use for our race, making it one event in the national XTERRA series. Team Unlimited LLC is based in Honolulu, Hawaii and did not make contributions to Rebecca Olness’ campaign. Raise the Bar did not make campaign contributions to the campaign either.

I hope this clears up any misunderstanding in the matter.

Patty Swedberg

Owner, Raise the Bar

Kent