The Issaquah Valley Seniors Board of Directors and senior center member David Kappler reached a settlement out of court on Dec. 22, one day before a hearing was scheduled to take place in the King County Superior Court.

Kappler had filed a temporary restraining order against IVS Board President Craig Hansen and Vice President Carmen Llewellyn on Dec. 9 to stop the board from selling or donating the senior center’s assets before the city of Issaquah takes over the center on Jan. 3.

The agreement settled the main dispute of the Dec. 21 meeting of the general membership — the fate of the 14-seat IVS van. The settlement states that the van, which is designed to accommodate passengers with limited mobility, would not be donated to the Sno-Valley Senior Center in Carnation, as the board had orginally informed seniors at the meeting. Instead, the city of Issaquah will purchase the van from IVS for $1.

“I had been hoping we could settle before the 23rd. Our priority was the van,” Kappler told the Reporter. He called the van agreement “significant savings to the city.”

“Being that the city is really stepping up, everything they’ve said and done has been very positive,” Kappler said. “I have a great deal of confidence in the city.”

Seniors, who had turned out in droves to attend the Dec. 21 meeting, had expressed outrage at the fate of the van after the announcement that it would be donated.

“It’s all about revenge … to give our van away is ridiculous,” senior center member Sue Wagner told the Reporter.

After being asked by seniors if it would be possible to sell the van to the city for $1, Issaquah Mayor Fred Butler, who is a senior center member, had answered in the affirmative and symbolically carried a dollar bill to the front of the room as the crowd had erupted in cheers and standing ovations.

After the meeting, Butler met with the board’s attorney, Jennifer Smitrovich of Seattle-based FAVROS Law to discuss the van and come to an agreement.

The settlement does state that the second, smaller IVS van, which the city of Seattle had donated to IVS, will be donated to Providence Marianwood, an Issaquah nursing home.

Kappler said that he “felt pretty good about” this outcome.

“The smaller van wasn’t bought with membership dues or donations,” he said. “It will see more use [at Providence Marianwood] than it saw here.”

The agreement also allows the IVS pool table, baby grand piano and “all other property located at the Issaquah Senior Center, including the computers, chairs, tables and books” to remain at the senior center. Llewellyn had informed the group of this at the meeting, noting that though the board had chosen to donate the piano to the Issaquah Singers, it would remain at the senior center since this is the rehearsal location of the vocal group.

The settlement also upholds the board’s decisions to donate any remaining IVS funds (after all liabilities and debts have been paid) to a nonprofit or charity group, and to not recoup sold or donated property, such as the first large van and grandfather clock.

“There are plenty of opportunities to do the right thing with that money,” Kappler said in appreciation of the funds being donated. He did express disappointment that the clock would not come back to the senior center, noting that seniors had “a lot of sentimental attachment” to it.

Though the fate of the assets has been decided, Kappler said that the board “still has a long ways to go to go through the dissolution process.” He hopes that the seniors’ questions about the IVS finances and the sudden resignation of former Executive Director Courtney Jaren — which went largely unanswered at the Dec. 21 meeting — will be answered in the future.

“We’re pretty disappointed, especially [in terms of the] finances,” he said in reference to the amount of information the board gave at the meeting. “The members are supposed to be able to see the financial records. I thought they’d give us a clue about the finances.”

Llewellyn had told the seniors that Jaren’s resignation letter “is confidential” and would remain so.

Kappler said he is not sure whether seniors will ever find out the whole truth about Jaren’s sudden departure at the end of August, but what he is sure about is that there is more to the story.

“If it was just a plain straightforward resignation, it would not be so secretive,” Kappler said. “One has to wonder what the terms of the resignation were.”

Still, Kappler said that he is thankful the matter of the assets was settled out of court before Christmas.

“It was going to be stressful and a lot of hassle for everyone,” he said, asking, “How long were we going to drag this out for?”

Hansen said that he did not wish to comment on the settlement. FAVROS Law did not immediately respond for comment.