Edmonds

I follow City government very closely and I am very confused as to what took place on March 22, 2020.  Did Council pass an Emergency Ordinance or did Council pass a public emergency ordinance necessary for the protection of the public health, public safety, public property or the public peace?  Do both require a public hearing with 60 days? I didn’t hear any discussion of the need for a majority plus one vote, so I suspect this is an Emergency Ordinance. ECC 6.60 says that the emergency management organization of the city of Edmonds is created and shall consist of the following: A. The mayor , who shall be the administrative head and have direct responsibility for the organization, administration and operation of the emergency management organization for the city of Edmonds and direct responsibility for the disaster operations of departments in the city; B. The disaster coordinator , who shall be appointed by and be subject to the supervision of the mayor and who shall be

Pursuant  to State law City of Edmonds shall have a Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan (CEMP). City Council adopted a CEMP on April 14, 2017,  and currently is effective and  therefore should be the planning tool used by the Mayor, City Staff and the City Council in the event of a disaster event.  Instead on Sunday March 22, 2020 the Mayor called an Emergency Council meeting to adopt an ordinance 4177 modifying Edmonds City Code 6.60 Disaster Preparation and Coordination . At no time during this council meeting did the Mayor,  City Attorney mention the CEMP.  Without being fully advised, the City Council passed the modifications to Edmonds City Code that are inconsistent with current CEMP. One of the modifications is to ECC 6.60.035 Emergency management organization making the eliminating the Emergency Management Board which is inconsistent with the effective CEMP.  The new code makes the Mayor in charge instead an trained Disaster Coordinator. Who is the Disaster Coordina

During the March 3, 2020 City Council Meeting, the following took place: Mayor Mike Nelson stated that the “next item on the agenda is approval of the agenda”.  Mayor Nelson then stated: “And before Council approves, I just want to let you know that both Council President and I have pulled item 8.1, which is the Resolution adopting Council Rules and Procedure and updating the Council Code of Conduct because it still needs some updating and review.” After a pause, Mayor Nelson asked: “Is there a motion to approve the agenda?” Council President Adrienne Fraley-Monillas said: “So moved” and Councilmember Luke Distelhorst said “second”.  The Motion carried unanimously.  Nobody made a Motion  TO APPROVE THE AGENDA IN CONTENT AND ORDER AS AMENDED .  The agenda had NOT been amended by vote of the Council.  Instead, Mayor Nelson and Council President Adrienne Fraley-Monillas had pulled an item from the agenda on their own. The next morning, March 4, 2020, 9:21 am, citi

Somebody other than City Attorney Taraday should review the proposed Council Rules of Procedures and update to the Council Code of Conduct: Chapter 2.05 of the Edmonds City Code can be printed out on  1 piece of paper using a normal sized font .   I would expect all City Attorney candidates to read and comply with Chapter 2.05.  I would hope City Attorney candidates would make sure their proposals are consistent with the City’s laws and ordinances. I would hope all elected officials would require such. If City Attorneys don’t comply with the Code Section that specifically deals with them, why have confidence that they will comply with any part of the ECC or ECDC? I would expect City Attorney candidates to ask for clarity regarding ECC 2.05.020.B.3 which incredibly states the following: Attend all regular and work meetings of the planning advisory board of the city of Edmonds as requested. Obviously either the word “all” needs to be removed or the words “as requested” need to

The previous Edmonds City Council conducted an evaluation of the services of the Lighthouse Law Group, PLLC. At the last minute prior to the evaluation process being fully completed the two City Council members brought forth a contract renewal. Lighthouse contract clause 13 Rules of Professional Conduct, states; All services provided by LIGHTHOUSE under this Agreement will be performed in accordance with the Rules of Professional Conduct for attorneys established by the Washington Supreme Court. Lighthouse contract clause 3(b.) establishes back billing for services already paid for and completed. 3b. states;  If any of the Option Triggering Events described in Section 3.c, below, occur, LIGHTHOUSE shall have the option to convert the flat fee compensation arrangement described in Section 3.a, above, to an hourly compensation arrangement. If exercised by LIGHTHOUSE, this option will have the effect of applying the hourly rates described in Section 3.d, below to all of the work pe

OPEN PUBLIC MEETINGS ACT TRAINING  FOR BOARD AND COMMISSION MEMBERS On November 19, 2019, the Edmonds City Council adopted Ordinance 4172 codifying  a State Law requiring every member of an Edmonds Board or Commission to complete training on the Open Public Meetings Act, Chapter 42.30 RCW, no later than ninety days after the date the member, takes oath of office or otherwise assumes duties as a public official. The State law requiring this training was passed by the State Legislature with an effective date of July 1st, 2014 (FIVE YEARS EARLIER THAN THE CITY OF EDMONDS ORDINANCE). This begs the question, Why did it take the City of Edmonds FIVE YEARS to come into compliance with State Law?  The City of Edmonds pays a lobbyist to keep the Mayor and Council updated on laws being considered and  passed by the State House and Senate. The City of Edmonds pays a City Attorney over $500,000 a year to provide legal services. Now on to the rest of the story. On November 19, 2019 Mayor