As a 30 year resident of Maple Valley I have grave concerns over recent actions taken by the Maple Valley City Council as a whole, but with special attention to actions taken by our city mayor, Noel Gerken.
Citizens of Maple Valley… please wake up and take some time to pay attention to what your City Council is doing on your behalf!
There have been two major issues pending with city government. The first issue is the development of the Northwest Quadrant. This is the development of the Four Corners area of Maple Valley. I would agree that further development including additional retail opportunities are a good thing for our city. Mr. Gerken, however, is not adverse to zoning out many longtime existing retail businesses that do not fit into his “vision” of this development.
These are businesses that have existed and supported Maple Valley with services and taxes for many years, businesses that applied for building permits with a specific intent, were approved and subsequently built and grew their businesses. If Mr. Gerken has his way these businesses can no longer be sold to function in the same manner. The only value left at that point is for the property only. The buildings, equipment, and business have no value. If you are a business owner you have just lost your retirement. Shame on you Mr. Gerken.
The second issue I am addressing is the development of the “Donut Hole” property which is a 156 acre property owned by King County. This property has not yet been annexed into the city of Maple Valley. This means that our City Council has no legal avenue of input into the development process. King County did allow City Manager David Johnston to participate in an advisory capacity as a courtesy to the city.
Mayor Gerken has now jeopardized our advisory seat with the county by writing a self serving letter to the Voice of the Valley and the Covington Reporter naming the two developers who had submitted a bid to develop the Donut Hole along with his bias as to which developer’s proposal he supported. His action resulted in the removal of City Manager David Johnston from the advisory board. This is pretty common knowledge and there have been further articles published in both papers that address this action taken by King County.
What is not commonly known and what was viewed by many at Tuesday night’s city council meeting was Mr. Gerken’s attitude over this repercussion. He made a serious mistake in not having the city council review this letter prior to its release nor did he have it reviewed by the city attorney. There is specific government protocol in place to prevent these type of errors. Not only does Mr. Gerken not acknowledge this breach of protocol he claims that “by day he is a chemical engineer” and as such really does not have that much political experience in these matters. Come on, Mr. Mayor, you can do better than that. Ignorance of the law is not an excuse. If you have a question as to the protocol of these type of matters you simply need to research the issue prior taking any kind of action. The city of Maple Valley has an attorney on staff in a full time position who can assist you and the City Council with the legality of your actions. You clearly went against protocol with your letter. This isn’t rocket science. You ran for mayor in order to represent the population of the city. I, for one, am not impressed. You made a serious mistake. You need to own that mistake and you need to make apologies to those involved where appropriate including members of the City Council.
During the meeting held Tuesday night City Councilman Layne Barnes took time to address Mayor Gerken for this gaffe. He made a suggestion to the council and the city employees in attendance that Mayor Gerken be re-educated regarding the protocol of running this city’s form of government. Deputy Mayor Victoria Jonas took the time to address the fallout resulting from Mayor Gerken’s letter. She specifically addressed Mayor Gerken and City Manager David Johnston advising them to meet with King County in person in order to make amends for this action in an attempt to reopen dialogue between these two governing bodies. City Councilwoman Linda Johnson was also critical of Mayor Gerkin. She proposed a letter of apology be sent to King County. This is what happens when a mayor oversteps his bounds. During all of these discussions Mayor Gerken remained unapologetic and defiant at times even smiling during these comments as if this was all a big joke. Trust me when I say this is far from a big joke and Mayor Gerken’s attitude says it all.
Perhaps it is time for the citizens of Maple Valley to follow the lead of the citizens of Black Diamond. Black Diamond residents rallied a huge grass roots effort when the development of their city was not being handled in a proper manner. It is important that we take the time to attend these weekly council meetings in order to be heard. They are at 7 p.m. on Monday evenings held in the Tahoma School District Administration Building across from Rock Creek Elementary School.
If we do not take the time to be involved the end result is that the seven people on our City Council make these all important decisions that will affect our way of life. Please stand up and be heard. Please take note of this and all of the other letters put forth regarding Mayor Gerken and keep them in mind when you vote in the next city election in November of this year. The existing mayor does not have the interest of the citizens of Maple Valley at heart. This is all about his personal vision for the future of Maple Valley….and that’s a pretty scary prospect!
Mary Simpson
Resident of Maple Valley
