…And the beat goes on with Black Diamond Councilmember Pat Pepper interrupting the beginning of the Black Diamond City Council meeting on Thursday, July 6, but little did she know what was about to take place a few days later when a ruling from the State Supreme Court was issued regarding her Stay on Recall signature gathering and motion to slow down the Expedited process being requested.
As has been per usual at the beginning of most City Council meetings since 2016, Pepper interrupts the flow of the meeting by requesting substitution of the City Agenda that has been posted the Friday before the meeting for a “Revised Agenda.” After she makes a motion to approve the Revised Agenda, Councilmember Erika Morgan seconds the motion. Pepper then reads off the changes to the “Posted” Agenda. However, unlike other meetings, following her reading off the changes to the July 6th Agenda, Pepper invited Attorney Jane Koler to advise the Council as to the posting of the “Agenda” to the City’s website.
“Is the City obligated to build the agenda according to the Council rules?” began Pepper with her question to Koler. Mayor Carol Benson broke in and stated that what Pepper was doing was not appropriate. In the mix of conversation, Morgan stated she seconded Pepper’s calling on Kohler.
Councilmember Tamie Deady pointed out that there was no motion made and no invite by the Council for Kohler to speak. She went on to state that it took the majority of the Council to ask the attorney to come up and speak. Councilmember Janie Edelman pointed out that Koler was not recognized at the City, however, Pepper pushed forward asking Koler to advise on the posting of the “Agenda” to the website.
Deady asked who contacted Koler to go over the “Agenda” information. She questioned that she had not seen anything about asking another attorney to get involved in anything.
Mayor Benson stated that Pepper had sent the “Revised Agenda” information to the City at 10:45 p.m. the night before the Council meeting. She attempted to redirect Pepper back to the business at hand with the motion to substitute the City Agenda, which had been posted on the Friday before the meeting, for Pepper’s Revised Agenda. However, Pepper ignored Benson’s call and continued to push for Koler to answer the “two” questions she had asked.
Edelman broke into the debate about the “Agenda” and asked for a postponement of the issue at hand in order to let a representative from King County make a presentation. She let everyone know that the representative (Leo Flor) had come all the way from Seattle to present his information about Veterans, Seniors and Human Services Levy. She stated that once his presentation was completed, he would be free to go home and then “…we can start the bickering again,” said Edelman. According to the City’s Agenda, Flor had been placed at the beginning of the meeting.
Edelman continued despite Pepper attempting to cut in, “But I object to the fact that you have brought this attorney in, you’re hi-jacking the meeting. The Mayor is the presiding officer.”
Pepper’s response, “This attorney has been hired for legal services. I too am looking forward to the presentation. Now if Attorney Koler may please…(ignoring Benson)…she has the floor. Please have her answer the questions.”
Benson reminded Pepper, “You agreed to have this presentation today and it really is inappropriate for you to do this at this point. I would say that we have a presentation today, and if you don’t want to accept your “Agenda” that’s fine, but we have a presentation that they’re next up on the [City]Agenda.”
Ignoring what Mayor Benson had just said, Pepper stated, “Attorney Koler, could you please answer, advise us on posting of the “Agenda” to the website.”
At that point, Koler began by stating they had rules of procedure, to which the audience began raising objections and calls for “Out of Order.” Through the confusion, Benson stated that Koler could make her comments during Public Comment, however, Pepper ignored the Mayor and said firmly, “No, we’re going to do it now.”
Deady broke in stating that Koler had already sent a memorandum with her points of what Koler wanted. Deady went on to ask what the point was to have Koler answering Pepper’s question at that point of the meeting. Edelman brought out that the memorandum was “attorney/client privilege.”
Although Pepper continued to push for Koler to have the floor, Deady emphatically stated, “No. We will not because she is not our attorney. And she has no right to be here. She has no right to take over. So she needs to sit down. Unless she’s going to talk, then I encourage everybody to get up and speak as well.”
On an edgy tone, Pepper said, “Attorney Koler, could you advise us on the posting of the “Agenda” to the website.”
Once again, Benson let everyone know that the Council already received the “attorney/client privilege” memo from Koler the day of the meeting. Pepper spoke up again agreeing that the memorandum had gone to everyone and that Koler would state for the record the answer to the question.
Benson reminded Pepper a second time that Pepper had sent the “Revised” Agenda at 10:45 p.m. the night before the meeting and that it had not been timely. Benson continued that the City Agenda had been posted the Friday before the meeting. Due to the lateness of the “Revised” Agenda being sent, no one saw it until the morning of the meeting.
Ignoring the Mayor, Pepper again directed Koler to advise about the posting of the “Agenda” to the website. Even though she was reminded that she was not the presiding officer, Pepper continued to ignore the Mayor.
Breaking into the argument, Morgan asked for a vote then asked if the Chair wanted to take a vote. The vote she was asking for would be whether Koler had the floor. Pepper took over and made a motion to allow Koler to address the Council on two questions she had asked of Koler. Once again Majority Councilmembers Pepper, Morgan and Brian Weber voted in favor of letting Koler speak with Deady/Edelman voting no.
Koler began her comments by stating that the Council had the authority delegated to it by the Revised Code of Washington (RCW) to set its own agenda and rules. Following a short back and forth between Councilmembers, Deady came forward and asked what new information Koler had for the Council as Pepper and Morgan read RCWs at every meeting regarding Council procedures, to which Koler stated, “Well you know, I’m sort of in an information vacuum about that Councilmember Deady, unfortunately. So I don’t know what they said before, but what I can say just very quickly…”
At that point, Koler went into a short lesson regarding the authorities the Council has according to RCWs and Municipal Codes as well as thoughts on agendas and the posting of agendas. Koler went on to state, “The most fundamental principle of due process is that City officials have to follow the law. And it erodes confidence in bodies such as this when elected officials and appointed officials whimsically decide to comply with some laws, but not with other laws.” She continued by stating that the public had the right to know what was on the agenda “…so that they can prepare to intelligently address the issues that are before Council.”
Mayor Benson stated that she did not think Koler understood about the Majority Councilmembers posting their agenda in a timely manner. According to Benson, the Majority Councilmembers take the posted City agenda and change it all around. She further pointed out that only two Councilmembers approved the “Revised” Agenda when there were other Councilmembers on the Council.
At that point, the Mayor asked Koler to sit down as they had all heard what she had so say before. Benson further stated that there were too many things that conflicted with State law and that are illegal.
Switching subjects, Deady wanted to know who was paying Koler’s bill for looking into City matters. “Well presumably the City of Black Diamond,” stated Koler.
Deady asked again who ordered Koler to look into City matters, pointing out that the Council, as a body, may ask the City Attorney to do something for them. She asked of Weber, Pepper and Morgan whether there was a vote as a body from the dias to have Koler looking into City matters.
Morgan stated there was a resolution to hire Glenn Associates and Koler Law to be the City’s Attorney and that they had a contract that had been voted on. Quickly clarifying Morgan’s statement, Koler stated that she was not the City Attorney. “I am not serving as the City Attorney. You do not have any provision in your code for the appointment of a City Attorney. I am providing legal services pursuant to a contract as is Mr. Glenn.” Deady stated that the Council needed an ordinance stating they had the right to hire an attorney.
Edelman followed with a comment assuming that Pepper had signed the contract with Koler and that the Mayor had not signed the contract, to which Koler agreed. “What authority does Pat Pepper with a made-up title of Council President and no budget have the authority to hire you?” questioned Edelman. Koler stated that the Council has contract authority. Edelman quickly followed up stating that the Council did not have signature authority.
Koler went on to state that there was an RCW that she would be glad to send the next day, however, to date, there has been no RCW reference sent by Koler to the City that she stated she would send. She went on to say, “If the Mayor were to decline to sign…a contract that has been approved by the Council, another member of the Council can sign it.”
A little over 17 minutes on the subject of substituting the “City” Agenda for the “Revised” Agenda in the beginning of the meeting and following some further comments, the Council finally passed the “Revised” Agenda for the night with Edelman and Deady voting no. The meeting continued with barbs here and there, however, City business was accomplished, including some unforeseen legislation was tossed in by Majority Councilmembers.
The legislation that was presented to the Council through Pepper and Morgan mere moments before a vote was expected to take place on it was regarding a Motion of Council Authorizing Action. The Motion presented was as follows:
The City Council of the City of Black Diamond authorizes action including seeking a legal remedy to establish the following:
- The obligation of the City and Mayor to uphold contracts passed by the Council
- The obligation of eh City and Mayor to uphold City policies and laws regarding the payment of Vouchers
- The obligation of the City and Mayor to follow the process of drafting and posting Council meeting agendas
- The obligation of the City and Mayor to issue proper notice of Special Meetings requested by the City Council
- The obligation of the City and Mayor and appointive officers and staff to follow state laws, local laws, and resolutions and policies passed by Council.
Following objections from Edelman and Deady, a vote was taken on the Motion with Pepper, Morgan, and Weber voting in favor, regardless of the last-minute presentation that no one except Pepper and Morgan knew was coming.
In the days that followed the meeting, it was learned that Koler had billed the City for her services. Originally, the City had agreed to pay $5,600 for Arbitration with Oakpointe, which is still pending. Koler’s recent billing was far in excess of the original billing agreement and at this point will only receive the $5,600.
Then on Tuesday, July 11, news broke that the Supreme Court denied Pepper’s motion to Stay signature gathering regarding her Recall as well as denied her request to alter the current Expedited briefing schedule. The decision came down after the Court received briefings from Pepper on June 27th and July 7th attempting to support her case to stop signature gathering and slow down the Recall process. Meanwhile, signature gathering in the Pepper Recall effort continues as members of Neighbor to Neighbor continue to meet with Black Diamond citizens.
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