Sherie Valderrama, wife of Sammamish Deputy Mayor Ramiro Valderrama, was not at all pleased with the tone some of the City Council discussions took at the Oct. 18 regular meeting, and she communicated as much to council members in an email the following day.

During a somewhat contentious discussion on the surface water fee increase, the deputy mayor twice referenced phrases made by Councilmember Tom Odell at the Sept. 13 council meeting, when Odell commented, “I’d say ‘ready, fire, aim’ comes to mind” when the council was then discussing the implications of a possible Town Center moratorium, a motion then proposed by Valderrama.

At the Oct. 18 meeting, Valderrama and Odell were on opposing sides of the proposed 5 percent surface water fee increase. To express his opposition to the 5 percent increase, Valderrama made his references to Odell’s “ready, fire, aim” comment.

“To take Councilmember Odell’s [words], you’re gonna shoot yourself in the foot before you even take out the gun to ready and aim,” Valderrama said.

“I’m ready to shoot somebody,” Odell shot back at Valderrama.

“I think Councilmember Odell may not make that statement anymore,” Mayor Tom Gerend interjected.

The deputy mayor laughed it off at the meeting, but his wife, who was watching the meeting on TV, did not find it comical at all.

“While I am sure that this was not meant literally, given the extreme language being used at the national level that has incited violence, I was very upset to hear this type of language coming from our own city council,” Sherie Valderrama wrote to council members in the email. “I hope that the council will refrain from this type of language going forward.”

Odell responded with an apology via email, stating “it was a very poor choice of words on my part and were [sic] not meant to be taken literally.”

“I certainly would never shoot someone whose opinion differed from mine no matter the degree of provocation,” Odell wrote. “I very much regret that it happened and I will see that it never happens again.”