AUDIO & SUMMARY of Feb. 8, 2007 City of Sultan Council Meeting

and "Appeal Meeting and closed record hearings" on Vodnick & Ramirez Twin Rivers plats

Click here if you would like to receive our periodic update reports of events and issues

NOTES on our recording and digital audio.

 

 

G.R.I.T.
Home

Agenda Packets & Minutes for this, and previous meetings

For more info on meetings and hearings, visit our TRANSCRIPTION page

AUDIO of previous meetings

 

 

Agenda Page & Agenda Packet for this meeting

 

HEARINGS:

6:00 PM - Ramirez Twin Rivers Estates (separate audio page) ("Appeal Meeting and Closed Record Hearing")

6:30 PM - Vodnick Lane (approx. 20 min.;3.8 mb)("Appeal Meeting and Closed Record Hearing")

[G.R.I.T. NOTE: Because of the extended length of the Ramirez Hearing, this hearing occurred following a short break and the and the swearing in of Officer Liz Faith by Dist. Judge Clough.]

COUNCIL MEETING - Open; Pledge of Allegiance; Roll Call; changes to agenda: Flower request to move Consent #4 and #5 to Action Agenda; add executive session after Consent Agenda. (approx. 3 min., Audio file B, 288 kb)

PRESENTATIONS: Swearing in of Police Officer Liz Faith (approx. 7 min., Audio File A, 855 kb)

[G.R.I.T. note: Due to the extended length required for the Ramirez hearing, the presentation was done first, to allow Judge Clough and Officer Faith and her family members to leave, rather than wait until the Vodnick hearing was complete.]

PUBLIC COMMENTS

Ron Fejfar [Pronouced, "Faver"]: Asking questions about the $30,000 "donation" the city received from developers, how it was accounted for, whether it was an unusal occurrence, etc. Re POLICE issue: Cities that "farm out" their police service, rather than have their own police department, are those with few financial resources; certainly not a city on the verge of explosive growth. Mr. Fejfar stated if the City decided to contract with the Sheriff's department for law enforcement, "I would venture to say that if this council votes to do such a thing, I would not be surprised if you would see a firestorm of political backlash, citizen backlash, citizen activism, the likes of which none of you have ever seen."  (Audio File C-1, 5:02 min., 888 kb)

(Here's a word-for-word transcription of Mr. Fejfar's (Faver) comments above, Mayor Tolson's response following council member comments listed below, and other discussions re the mysterious $30,000 behind-the-scenes developer contribution.)

Audio File C-2, 2:10 min., 382 kb:

  • Traci Henstine: Working with SPD on Block Watch program for the Citizens
  • Loretta Storm: Re Dan Ramirez's comment during hearing that he's attended numerous council meetings; also Jones & Stokes contract.
  • Ron Kraut: Still looking for the answers to his questions re definitions of an "Appeal meeting" and "Closed Record hearing."

COUNCILMEMBER COMMENTS

CONSENT AGENDA (Amended; Audio File E, 203 kb; Consent items C-4 and C-5 moved to Action agenda)

[G.R.I.T. NOTE: A short break was taken, as the city held a 10-minute executive session.]

ACTION AGENDA:

PUBLIC COMMENTS (on agenda items only)

  • Gerry Gibson and Traci Hoenstine (Audio File K-1, 2;37 min., 462 kb)
  • Ron Fejfar ("Faver"; Audio File K-2, 2:12 min., 388 kb): Again, where can citizens ask questions about the $30,000 developer donation? Slawson: Asked Mayor Tolson to tell him about the town meeting 3/15/07. Fejfar states he's absolutely amazed that no one has asked this question or that Tolson has not explained or made any public statements.
  • Kerry Ourada {"Or-aid-ah"; Audio File K-3; 1:55 min.,340 kb) - At the least, the $30,000 donation presents a "major image problem" to the city, already well-known as a "developer's" city.
  • Josie Fallgatter (Audio File K-4, 5:10 min., 911 kb) - Would like to see the city apply the same scrutiny they apply to SPD issues to land use and future planning issues; asked when final resolution and Facts & Findings on Vodnick and Twin Rivers will be issued.

(Council votes to stop council clock)

  • Loretta Storm (Audio File K-5, 4:00 min., 650 kb) - LID 97-1 wetland issue not about "blackberries (as some council members had sneeringly referred to), but about accountability; Whenever the city tries to take a short cut in process, it almost always ends up taking more time and costing A LOT more money.

COUNCILMEMBER COMMENTS ON PUBLIC COMMENTS

  • Audio File L-1, 2:22 min., 418 kb - Bruce Champeaux: Appreciation to Traci Hoenstein for her efforts re Block Watch; says citizen activists tonight are inconsistent in their opinion of H. E. John Galt's recommendations; re PUDs, he asked folks to remember that he was the one instrumental re PUD moratorium, as he wanted to see larger setbacks.
  • Audio File L-2, 1:29 min., 263 kb - Steve Slawson; If you don't like what we're doing, c'mon over on our side. John Seehuus, doesn ot appreciate being called a "crook" re bribe. Some SPD issues are more than money, things one cannot put a price tag on.
  • Audio File L-3, 3:54 min., 687 kb - Jim Flower: Agrees with John re police. To Ron Fejfar - "No one [council members] knew" about the donation. Statement re how the most important thing a person has is their reputation, which takes a lifetime to build, but one false step can ruin it forever. (Good statement)
  • Audio File L-4, 3:40 min., k541 b - Kristina Blair: appreciates everyone's passion, but be sure research the facts. Re the SPD, feels citizens' fears of switching to county sheriff services is "over-blown," as "only ONE council person requested financial figures. Just ONE [i.e., Derek Boyd].
  • Audio File L-5, 3:34 min., 650 kb - Derek Boyd: Person responsible to push to use county sheriff keeps coming back to him and it sounds like he WANTS to get rid of the SPD, which is not the case. States it's a matter of money and finances. John Seehuus follow-up: He has not objections to checking out the #'s and comparing, but sees some things as more important.

MAYOR TOLSON COMMENTS (Audio File M, 3:12 min., 566 kb) - Stated "bribe" as used in the Monitor's Steve Higgins opinion piece imples "personal gain." He counseld with an attorney re possible lawsuit, but they said "forget it."

Adjourned at 10:20 PM

 

 
   

NOTES ON OUR DIGITAL RECORDING AND FILES:

  • This audio is accurate and complete. However, we urge that people contact the City directly to obtain the final agenda, and certified minutes, ordinances, resolutions or other documents: City Clerk Laura Koenig 360-793-2231. If you receive the automated message, you can bypass it and go directly to her voicemail by pressing "2" and then the pound (#) sign.
  • As of the October 26, 2006 council meeting, the city began recording meetings using a Morantz MP3 digital recorder, which has records directly from the microphones to the recorder, thus, clearly than the audio we present here, with is captured from "room" sound from a microphone located near the podium. If you wish to secure a copy of the City's audio, contact Clerk Koenig.
  • All of our digital audio files are in MP3 format, playable on Windows Mediaplayer or other MP3-compatible digital device