The Sammamish City Council settled a war of words at its June 4 meeting.
After battling to a 3-3 tie at its May 20 meeting — where just six of its seven members were in attendance — councilmember John Curley finally broke a stalemate.
The council was debating wording around the impoundment of vehicles when police stop a driver for operating a vehicle under the influence or without a valid license. State law previously required vehicles be towed, but recent court decisions have decided those rules are too restrictive.
While changing the city’s wording around the law, there was a disagreement as to how it should read.
Police chief Nate Elledge, who said the city averages 62 impoundments a year, felt the law should read vehicles should be “subject to impoundment.”
Councilmember Don Gerend argued it should read vehicles should be towed “at the officer’s discretion.”
Curley sided with Elledge, Mayor Tom Odell and councilmembers John James and Tom Vance, voting in favor of “subject to impoundment.”
“My main concern with the ‘discretion of the officer’ is it calls into question the personality of the officer … I think it puts the officer at the direct disadvantage,” Curley said. “I think it’s important to put the officer under the cover of the law.”
Gerend argued the wording wasn’t clear enough for citizens.
“What I’m hearing today is we’re trying to slide it by the person involved so that they don’t realize the officer has discretion,” he said.
In other news:
• The Sammamish City Council held its third and final public hearing on Environmental Critical Areas and began its own deliberation. The council will continue to discuss the topic during a special meeting at 4:30 p.m., Tuesday, June 11.
• Metro Transit General Manager Kevin Desmond was on hand to discuss possible cuts to bus service. He said Metro is looking at cutting 600,000 hours in service. Sammamish routes 216 and 269 were on a list of possible route eliminations released in April.
Desmond also revealed positive news for the city, noting it will gain a route in September. Route 219, which previously only served southeast Redmond, will now service Sammamish and the Issaquah Highlands.
• The Sammamish Plateau Water & Sewer District presented its case for why the city should be concerned about potential stormwater injection near three of its wells in Issaquah and revealed emails indicating Issaquah is trying to assume those wells from them.
“I think the economic incentive is that this facility is already built and there is a very limited amount of effort of monitoring,” said consultant Scott Coffey, when asked why Issaquah would want the wells.
• Deputy Chief for Eastside Fire & Rescue, Bud Backer, awarded Mayor Tom Odell a plaque for his service as a director on the EF&R board from 2010 to 2012.
Odell thanked Eastside Fire for the opportunity, noting it is the equivalent to being on a second city council.
“You guys do a fabulous job, your heart’s in the right place and we’ve had the benefit for 11 years or so of Eastside Fire membership and it would be nice to continue,” Odell said.
