It has the makings of an Old Guard meltdown.

Last week, we were treated to the news of Maple Valley Councilwoman Linda Johnson walking out of a meeting to protest what she believed to be illegal acts committed by the city manager and the council. But a closer look at the issue doesn’t appear to support her accusations, and the very act she is opposed to may have saved this city many millions of dollars.

First, a little history – back at the end of January, some of the council members went down to Olympia with the city manager to schmooze and keep Maple Valley fresh in the minds of our state legislators. One of the hot topics that came to light was Senate Bill 6241, the Community Facilities District (CFD), a sinister little bill that shifts a lot of power for assessing land-use taxes to the developer.

Mostly, this bill involves the Donut Hole, the 156 acre parcel in the middle of Maple Valley that’s owned by the county, who is selling it to YarrowBay. Right now, if YarrowBay wanted to develop that land, they would need to pay impact fees to construct houses or buildings there. The impact fees are supposed to help pay for widening the roads, getting pipes to carry in and out water, police services, traffic lights, etc.

The concept of the CFD is that a new taxing authority would be created to assess and collect these fees. And guess who would be on this new five-member taxing authority for the Donut Hole? Three people from the legislative authority (currently King County), and two people from the petitioners (YarrowBay).

Surprised? Well, what else would you expect from a corporation. They regularly lobby for their interests; that’s the American way. Last year, they had zero out of seven votes to decide how much the impact fees would be, and starting in June they could have had two out of five votes. That’s right, Yarrow Bay would have had two out of five votes in determining how much to tax themselves, and Maple Valley gets shut out of the party. Those fees would have gone to King County, could have totaled several million dollars, and likely would not have been spent improving Maple Valley’s infrastructure to handle the new development.

The lobbying group that normally reviews state legislation for us was asleep at the wheel, and stamped their approval on this bill without actually reading it through. Also, this bill was on the fast track; it went from introduction to passing the House and Senate in under 60 days. By the time the Maple Valley delegation heard about it, the bill was in committee, and was passed by the Senate two weeks later.

Our city manager made the decision to hire a law firm with expertise in this area to review the city’s options with our city attorney. It cost us about $10,000, but we got language placed in the bill that includes Maple Valley in the legislative authority (instead of just King County). Yarrow Bay now has to get both councils’ approval to form a CFD at the Donut Hole, which is very unlikely to happen.

So what is Councilor Johnson so upset about? Back when the Old Guard was running this town, the city manager wasn’t allowed to sneeze without getting permission. The leash was so short that even the Humane Society started getting concerned. Councilor Johnson believes that the city manager isn’t allowed to make a decision of this magnitude without it being vetted by the council first.

In the legal sense, she’s wrong. The city manager is the chief executive officer of the city, and has the discretion to spend up to $35,000 without council approval. In the practical sense, if the city manager had waited to prepare a report and wait even longer for the council to make a decision, he might as well have delivered the bad news with the governor’s signature (it passed March 10). All of this legislative maneuvering took place within a week, which is far too short a time to wait for action from city councilors.

Instead of thanking our city staff for saving the day here, Councilor Johnson has picked a weird battle that sounds more like misplaced anger over the loss of control, and the flailing of a dying regime. I’d been hoping for a healthy and thoughtful opposition, but instead we’ve been left with petulance and pouting. Councilor, you can do better than this.