Black Diamond didn’t need reform before the Save Black Diamond council members (Brian) Weber and (Pat) Pepper were elected, but Black Diamond needs it now!

In a recent letter to the editor by Kristen Bryant (and friend), she claims that Black Diamond is being “reformed” by the Save Black Diamond council members. Strikingly absent from her letter is any mention of any problem that existed prior to 2016, when the Save Black Diamond council members became the majority on the council. In actual fact, “reform” is needed today, but it is because of the mess created by the Save Black Diamond council members Weber, Pepper and (Erika) Morgan since January of 2016.

Let’s look at what has occurred in 2016, in just a few short months. The Save Black Diamond council members adopted rules for the conduct of council and council meetings, against the advice of the city attorney and the city’s insurance pool. The city’s insurance pool gave notice to the city that it will not provide insurance coverage for lawsuits that arise from the direct result of these new rules, such as Open Public Meetings Act violations. According to Ms. Bryant, the Save Black Diamond council members “should be commended for their bold, quick action to reform the City Council as their first step in reforming City Hall”. This “bold, quick action” performed without benefit of any legal advice, has resulted in a lawsuit(s) and two union grievances.

Ms. Bryant claims that the Save Black Diamond council members “identified budget issues that previous councils just glossed over”. Can anyone convince themselves that the flat refusal of these council members to vote on the budget is some kind of “identification of budget issues”? Is this type of inaction, based on a total lack of understanding of the city’s budget procedures, evidence of the Save Black Diamond council members’ “taking control of their work plan”? Only if their “work plan” is to lock up the city government.

The idea that the Save Black Diamond council members have created “new, powerful council committees with real authority and real accountability” is certainly a wild exaggeration when one considers the lack of action at regular council meetings and the procedures implemented at the “new” committee meetings. These Save Black Diamond council members, Weber, Pepper and Morgan, refuse to act on anything. When presented with the minutes of a previous meeting, they refuse to act. When asked to approve checks so the city can pay vendors, they refuse to act. When asked why they won’t act on these matters, they refuse to explain. When any matter is placed on the agenda, they send it to committee, where it never again sees the light of day. They have refused to even approve a grant that would give the city $50,000. How can we forget the arbitrary cancellation of regular council meetings by these three because they got mad at the mayor?

Let’s also analyze Ms. Bryant’s claim that there is some “regional network utilizing the skill of highly qualified scientists, lawyers and local government experts who” apparently provide advice to the Save Black Diamond council members. If there is so much expertise available to the three council members to assist them in doing their jobs, why is absolutely nothing getting done? If there are lawyers advising these three (they have sworn off the advice of the city attorney), why aren’t they following the Open Public Meetings Act? They repeatedly hold special meetings on extremely short notice, establish agendas for special meetings that cover everything under the sun, and prepare minutes sanitized to remove anything that might embarrass them later.

While these Save Black Diamond council members are “reforming” City Hall to reflect their own level of incompetency, has anyone considered the effect of this on the staff? The City Clerk has received 59 public records requests (more than we usually get in one year) in the space of two months, all related to the Save Black Diamond council members and their activities. Staff has been unable to get any resolution or ordinance passed and no contract has been approved because these three council members need to consider each one in multiple committees over and over again when the three are all members of all the committees.

Ms. Bryant complains that I, the mayor, am to blame for the union grievances filed against the city, when in fact it is Ms. Bryant’s own actions that prompted the grievances. Kristen Bryant and Brian Derdowski have attended council committee meetings and appointed themselves as voluntary “staff representatives”, at these meetings in order to educate these three Save Black Diamond council members on matters that would normally be presented during a regular council meeting. At the regular council meeting on March 17, 2016, the staff was present and prepared to present their agenda items. Instead, the three Save Black Diamond council members, Weber, Pepper and Morgan refused, preferring to send them to committee where Ms. Bryant and Mr. Derdowski, as volunteer “staff representatives” , two people who live (outside Black Diamond) and do not work for the city, explain their limited understanding of city business during committee meetings. It is this use of Ms. Bryant and Mr. Derdowski as “staff representatives” that is the reason for the grievance.

We are all aware of the massive developments that were approved in development agreements executed by the mayor and City Council members who were ousted in the election in 2012. Save Black Diamond is simply wrong in the message they are sending to the public, that we can now stop all growth in the city and return to the good old days of rural living. This is the apparent reason the three Save Black Diamond council members, Weber, Pepper and Morgan are claiming that reform is needed in City Hall. They know they can’t mention this in a letter to the editor because the development agreements have been signed and are final contracts. No changes to the council committee structure or “scope of authority” can undo the development agreements or turn back the clock.

It is time for the Save Black Diamond council members, Weber, Pepper and Morgan, and their handlers, Kristen Bryant and Brian Derdowski, to be honest with the public and follow the law, instead of claiming that their actions have now “created new law”. It is time for the citizens to step up to the plate and let the three Save Black Diamond council members know that they were not elected to advance their own personal agendas or the personal agendas of Bryant and Derdowski.

The Washington State Auditor will be reviewing the actions of the city, and we will find out whether or not there is any need for these three Save Black Diamond council members to “question every expenditure and review every policy” and otherwise totally lock up city government, because they simply do not know how the city government works.

Carol Benson

Mayor

Black Diamond