New council members doing the right thing | Letter to the Editor

Black Diamond’s new council members are doing all the right things, but their opponents from the election are wasting time and taxpayer money trying to disrupt them. With sour grapes after their endorsed candidates lost last fall, in a landslide election, some are trying to keep doing business the old way.

February 3, 2016 6:38 pm

Black Diamond’s new council members are doing all the right things, but their opponents from the election are wasting time and taxpayer money trying to disrupt them. With sour grapes after their endorsed candidates lost last fall, in a landslide election, some are trying to keep doing business the old way.

There is an old saying, that one definition of insanity is doing the same things over and over again, expecting different results. Well, doing the same things over and over again got us YarrowBay, and little action to control it.

When council members (Pat) Pepper and (Brian) Weber ran for office last fall, they promised to do more – and that’s what we’re getting.

It started Jan. 7. Council member (Erika) Morgan tried to propose that the council appoint its own council committee memberships. She followed the rules – no parliamentary tricks – of the Black Diamond City Council – a behavior that seemed to be in short supply on Jan. 7.

In response, the mayor said that if things weren’t done her way, there would be no council committees. Go here and listen for yourself: http://www.ci.blackdiamond.wa.us/Depts/Clerk/Agendas/Audio/Council_20160107-1900_01d1497da09abc50.mp3

This was a very serious issue – an interference of the mayor into council’s actions. So, council members Morgan, Weber, and Pepper followed state law and requested a special meeting to consider council rule changes so that the council could do its legislative work. The mayor ordered the clerk to not issue a public notice, so the council couldn’t meet – again, in direct violation of Black Diamond City Council rules.

Determined, Morgan and Pepper released draft rule changes, sent them out publicly and held an open information session on Jan. 19. Sticking to their promise to the voters, council members Morgan, Weber and Pepper, at the Jan 21 meeting, voted 3-2 to reform the councils’ rules. New council committees and membership will be created by a vote of the council. Meetings will be fully noticed and conducted when the public can attend – at night, after work and not during the day. All legislation will go through a rigorous review over several weeks and involve multiple opportunities for public input.

Peter Kelemen

Kent