Latest news with #AlMerkel
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
The city of Spokane Valley and Councilman Al Merkel destined for court following denial of settlement offer
Jun. 4—As the shouting match at the end of Tuesday's city council meeting indicated, it'll be up to the courts to put an end to the ongoing public records dispute within Spokane Valley's city hall. The Spokane Valley City Council voted 6-0 Tuesday to decline a settlement offer proffered by Councilman Al Merkel that would have ended the lawsuit the city filed against him earlier this year as an effort to get the councilman to comply with state and city records-keeping rules. Merkel was not allowed to vote due to the conflict of interest, and refused to leave the meeting for the discussion of the settlement. The lawsuit stems from last year's investigation into Merkel's activity on the social media platform NextDoor launched last June following a complaint from Councilwoman Jessica Yaeger that he was not keeping proper record of his communications on the platform related to city business. A third-party attorney found Merkel to be in violation of both the Washington State Public Records Act and relevant city policies, which eventually led to the council admonishing Merkel and removing his ability to represent the city on regional boards following a failed appeal attempt from Merkel. The council took the extraordinary measure of suing Merkel in February, stating the city still does not have complete copies or access to Merkel's NextDoor records despite the determinations from the investigator and the contracted hearing examiner who ruled on the appeal. If the city were found in violation of the state's public records act by not being able to provide Merkel's materials to the public, it would carry hefty court-ordered fines. Merkel has maintained the opposite; that he's provided everything even though he does not believe his social media use constitutes public records, and that the action is a "frivolous and politically-motivated lawsuit," not one intended to protect the city from legal ramifications. "I want to take it to court," said Mayor Pam Haley. "I want to get the answer, and I want to have it be in black and white." The meeting devolved into a raucous affair pretty quickly after City Attorney Kelly Konkright finished providing an overview of the terms of the settlement offer to the council, which, if approved, would would have led to the lawsuit being dismissed with prejudice. The city could not refile the same claim down the road for events before the settlement took effect. Merkel's settlement terms also dictated that the city would cover his legal expenses past, present and future, "as they pertain to this dispute," and that he and the city identify and agree on an "independent master" to review his social media and determine what activity constitutes a public record moving forward. The city would have had to foot the bill for the role, and Merkel would have been legally obligated to produce only the content the "master" deems to be public records, the settlement terms state. The discussion of the offer drew several Spokane Valley residents, who aired their frustrations with the council, with Merkel and with the general chaos and dysfunction that's dominated the Tuesday meetings since he joined the board at the start of 2024. Allegations and harsh feelings aimed at members of the council, city staff and audience peppered the comments regardless of what side of the dispute the individual supported. Haley made several warnings to the public to maintain decorum, and at one point, usually soft-spoken Deputy Mayor Tim Hattenburg visibly lost his temper as some of Merkel's most ardent supporters ridiculed a perennial critic of his during that individual's opportunity to speak. The raising of voices and flinging of accusations continued at the end of the meeting as Merkel took the opportunity to respond to the earlier denial of his offer during council comments. He said his settlement offer was not an admission of guilt, but was made "to stop the bleeding," and to "spare the public from more legal bills and more headlines, more dysfunction." The councilman also repeated his claims of being politically persecuted, of a conspiracy among city staffers to oust him from power and that he's provided the necessary social media access and records to the city. "They'd rather keep dragging the city through the mud, with lawyers laughing all the way to the bank," Merkel said. "Because, let's face it, they're the only winners here, the lawyers, not the residents, not the taxpayers, certainly not the reputation of this council." Merkel then took aim at one attorney in particular, Konkright, after he tried to counter some of Merkel's claims. Merkel grew increasingly frustrated after an attempt to interrupt Konkright's speaking time, which was denied by Haley. He then began arguing the case with Konkright, citing calls and emails he said counter the city's position and the attorney's remarks. Haley interrupted the back and forth with "Councilmember Merkel, allow other people to talk." "He's interrupting me," Merkel responded. "He's not an elected official." The heated exchange finally came to an end after Councilman Rod Higgins requested a point of order against Merkel for "trying to disrupt the meeting." Haley ruled in Higgins favor. A hearing to consider a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, filed by Merkel's attorney, is scheduled for July 18 in front of Spokane County Superior Court Judge Rachelle Anderson. It will be the first official hearing since the lawsuit was filed.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Spokane Valley City Council to consider settlement with sitting member over public records lawsuit
Jun. 2—Spokane Valley's public records lawsuit against one of its sitting city council members could come to a close without a day in court if the council approves a settlement proposal this week. The Spokane Valley City Council will hear a settlement offer from Councilman Al Merkel Tuesday that would end the city's lawsuit against him — a monthslong legal dispute centered around the councilman's use of the social media platform NextDoor. The city opened an independent investigation into Merkel's NextDoor use last June following a complaint from Councilwoman Jessica Yaeger that he was using the platform as a form of city-related communication without keeping proper records of his activity. Rebecca Dean, a Seattle-based attorney who conducted the investigation, determined Merkel's use likely violated the state's Public Records Act and city code governing council members. Merkel has maintained that he does not believe his activity, whether posts, surveys or messages, constitute public records, and unsuccessfully appealed the investigation findings to the city's hearing examiner last fall. Citing a lack of compliance from Merkel following the investigation, and the hearing examiner's decision to uphold it, the Spokane Valley City Council voted to sue Merkel in February to force him to comply with open records rules. Merkel's fellow members on the city council voted unanimously to strip him of committee assignments, and to publicly censure Merkel — a formal condemnation for his actions — in a special meeting Dec. 19 following the appeal. The punishments are among the most severe available to the council when disciplining a fellow board member, and will remain in effect for the remaining three years of Merkel's term. The settlement offer, passed along by Merkel's attorney Patrick Kirby, comes just before the lawsuit was to appear before Spokane County Superior Court Judge Rachelle Anderson on July 18. If approved by the city council, the settlement would lead to the dismissal of the lawsuit with prejudice, meaning the city could not refile the same claim down the road for events before the settlement took effect. The city would also cover all of Merkel's attorney fees past, present and future, "as they pertain to this dispute," according to meeting materials including in the agenda for Tuesday. Merkel is also requesting the city come to agreement with him on appointing an "independent master" to review his social media and determine what activity constitutes a public record, and to have the city cover the costs of the role. Merkel would only be legally obligated to produce social media posts the "master" determined to be public records, the settlement terms state. The city would pay for an attorney to serve as the "independent master." The city already has a staff that is trained in public record's law to fill records requests, and the city covered the costs of two independent experts already for the investigation and hearing examiner proceedings. The settlement would preempt a court from weighing in on whether, or to what extent, Merkel's activity on NextDoor is a public record. It would also preempt a court from directing him to provide those posts and to comply with state law and city policies moving forward, which is highlighted as a potential concern in the meeting materials. "Both determined Councilmember Merkel violated the Governance Manual social media policy and did not comply with his good faith obligations under Washington case law," the agenda item states. "Councilmember Merkel did not adhere to those determinations, and thus it would remain to be seen whether he would adhere to a third independent attorney's determinations in this regard when not in his favor." City Attorney Kelly Konkright will brief the council on the offer from Merkel at its regular 6 p.m. Tuesday meeting.
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Spokane Valley City Council pulls public safety funding to cover costs of struggles with Councilman Al Merkel
May 28—The Spokane Valley City Council clawed back funding intended for public safety Tuesday to help cover the costs of the ongoing legal struggles with a member of the governing board. Controversy has followed Councilman Al Merkel throughout his first year and change in office. Bickering between Merkel and his opponents on the council has become a mainstay of Tuesday meetings, and two independent investigations into his behavior were launched last year following complaints filed by his peers and city employees. One found Merkel repeatedly disrespected city staff, often engaging in "intimidating behavior." The latter found Merkel's use of the social media platform NextDoor was likely in violation of state public records law and city code, and is the root of a lawsuit the city launched against him in February. The council on Tuesday voted 5-1 to approve amendments to more than a dozen city funds to reflect a $5.4 million increase in revenue due largely to grant awards, as well as a nearly $14 million increase in expenditures. Merkel was the lone dissenting vote; Councilwoman Jessica Yaeger was absent. Several of the increases in expenditures are from obligated spending of the grant awards on projects, like various energy efficiency and clean building grants or affordable housing and homeless services awards. Others are for ongoing projects, like the $4.6 million budget left for the Spokane Valley Cross Country Course, or are due to an error in calculations, like the nearly $1 million loss of license tab fees the city planned to collect this year based on faulty data from the Department of Licensing. The line item that drew the most attention, however, was the $350,000 in legal costs associated with Merkel. The council elected to transfer funding away from vehicle replacements and an unfilled civilian analyst position for the Spokane Valley Police Department to fill the hole. Spokane Valley voters will decide later this year if they're willing to pay more in sales tax to help cover public safety, after the council voted to place a 0.1% sales tax measure on the Aug. 5 ballot. The transfer approved Tuesday will result in 12 replacement vehicles for the department instead of the planned 14, and it does away with the sole civilian position approved by the council in February 2024 as part of the board's ongoing efforts to expand the department. The budget amendment passed with little comment from the council Tuesday, but was discussed in detail while still a proposal at an April 29 meeting. Mayor Pam Haley said reallocating the public safety funding was a result of a tight budgeting process last year in which every city department saw cuts, except for public safety. There simply wasn't another place to find the funding to cover the costs associated with the complaints, investigations and lawsuit Merkel is at the center of, she said. "When we did our budget, we were very clear that we were cutting all departments, and all departments did a great job — our employees didn't take raises this year because they knew how tight we were," Haley said. "There is no money to take to pay the legal bills, except to take money that was going to be spent on something new. The only thing we have that's new are those things." Since November, the city of Spokane Valley has been tracking expenditures related to Merkel in a spreadsheet. The total is around $350,000 to date, according to the report. The report differentiates the expenses into four categories: "actions taken to protect city employees," like the $40,000 renovation of City Hall to separate staffers from Merkel; "nonproductive uses of staff time," which includes the time spent responding to the litany of public records request related to Merkel; "the actions taken to protect the city from legal risk," including the ongoing public records lawsuit launched against him; and an "investigation of Merkel's unfounded complaint against Councilmember (Rod) Higgins and Mayor Haley." "I think that it shows the city's goals here, when they're defunding public safety to pay for their vendetta against me," Merkel said, before positing the city's pavement preservation fund "could be used for that same political vendetta purpose." The preservation fund was already slashed to make funding available for the wave of Spokane Valley Police Department positions approved by the council last year, as reported by The Spokesman-Review. Haley said the little over $7 million in the fund needs to be used for its intended purpose, and that it is "not just a little slush fund that you can go in and take whatever money out you want." Yaeger, who filed the complaint against Merkel about his social media use that has resulted in the public records lawsuit the city launched against him, said in April she was disappointed by Merkel's actions and the loss of public safety funding. "I really think that we could have put this money to better use for our city," Yaeger said. "He claims that he's a victim and he's not. He's actually victimizing our citizens, and it's pretty frustrating."
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
New Washington law keeps identifying information of whistleblowers private following investigation into Spokane Valley councilman
May 18—OLYMPIA — Washington lawmakers amended public disclosure law this year to require identifying information of accusers, complainants and witnesses in workplace discrimination or harassment cases be kept private and their voices altered in audio recordings. The legislation, introduced by Rep. Rob Chase, R-Spokane Valley, and signed by Gov. Bob Ferguson on Thursday, was written in response to what some Spokane Valley employees describe as targeted retaliation by City Councilman Al Merkel. Merkel has been bogged in controversy since taking office last year, largely due to a failure to get along with fellow council members and city staffers. Testy arguments have become a mainstay of council meetings as Merkel has repeatedly butted heads with the board and department heads over construction projects, grant applications and the complaints and investigations related to him. Last May, an independent investigator found Merkel repeatedly disrespected city staff, often engaging in "intimidating behavior." In one instance, he reportedly asked Mayor Pam Haley to stay after a council meeting to speak, and then stood between her and the door as he got in Haley's face and yelled at her, according to a city staffer who witnessed the event. Merkel has maintained the report cleared him of all "legal wrongdoing," apparently based on the investigator's determination that his behavior was the same towards city employees of all genders, ages and other protected classes. He argued city staff members did not like his "loud and direct" approach, that claims of harassment were "trumped up," and that his Latino heritage may contribute to how those in City Hall perceive him. City and board leaders say Merkel has continued to be disrespectful to staff following the investigation's findings, even after his office was moved from the dedicated office space for the council to the first floor of City Hall and the completion of a more than $40,000 remodel to the building to implement more separation and safety measures between Merkel and city staff. Merkel himself testified against the proposal as it worked through the Legislature. "Let's be real, this bill exists mainly to keep government actors from being held accountable," Merkel said. Merkle added that the city was attempting to silence him "because of the criticisms that I've laid at the city of Spokane Valley over tax waste." Merkel did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the new law Friday afternoon. As he testified before the House Government committee in February, Chase said the bill was "prompted by an incident, a specific situation that happened in the city of Spokane Valley." "My goal is to protect employees who are investigating workplace harassment," Chase said. Speaking before the Senate Government Committee, Chase said the bill "protects whistleblowers." "We need to have whistleblowers who go out on a limb to protect the Republic," Chase said. As he signed the legislation Thursday, Ferguson said the bill "prevents victims of workplace harassment from being revictimized by an abuser who may figure out their identity through a public records request." Ferguson noted that Washington has one of the strongest public records laws in the country, though there must be a balance "to make sure that we're protecting folks who are facing real challenges." "And their information should not be shared," Ferguson said. The bill exempts the redaction of names and job titles of elected officials. While the public records act previously required the names of complainants, accusers, and witnesses to be redacted, several Spokane Valley employees said that disclosing their contact information and job title made them easily identifiable in documents. "This is happening right now within the city of Spokane Valley," Spokane Valley City Attorney Kelly Konkright told the House government committee in February. He said a council member had used the Public Records Act "to target and publicly criticize city employees who honestly reported what they believed and witnessed was harassing behavior. This is discouraging the city's employees from reporting future misconduct." Stressing that she believes in open and transparent government, another public records employee told members of the committee that the city had received "many public records requests" from Merkel for all records related to an investigation into his conduct. "The council member, after receiving them, then posted comments and quotes from those interviews on social media, along with heckling the participants in those interviews," the employee said, adding that Merkel also posted the records on his campaign website with the identity of those interviewed, along with a review of the investigations. "It felt a lot like retaliation to those of us who had participated in interview processes, when it was never a political intent for us to go after this council member." The incident, the employee said, has left many city employees saying they will no longer come forward to testify in future investigations. Another city employee told the committee that the postings resulted in "distrust and resentment" toward Merkel. Candice Bock, director of government relations for the Association of Washington Cities, told the committee that the intent of the bill is to "make sure that the Public Records Act is not being used as a tool for retaliation against our folks who participate in an investigation." "The Public Records Act is to make sure that the public has access to our records," Brock said. "When we use it as a tool for retaliation, that creates a chilling effect on our employees and on our process." The bill passed in the Senate 48 to 1 and passed the House 92 to 5. It takes effect July 26. Editor's note: This article has been updated to correctly identify Spokane Valley City Attorney Kelly Konkright
Yahoo
03-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Proposed Spokane Valley sales tax to boost police moves a step closer to voters
Apr. 2—The Spokane Valley City Council Tuesday overwhelmingly shared a desire to let residents decide if they want to pay higher sales tax to support more police. But the members of the public who spoke at Tuesday's meeting shared a wide range of reasons they support, and oppose, the effort to place a .01% sales tax measure on the ballot this fall to secure funding for an increase in the city's law enforcement. Spokane Valley has long been considered a conservative stronghold, electing predominantly Republican or Republican-backed candidates to the city council and the state Legislature since the mid-1990s. City leadership has taken the fiscal and law enforcement aspects of the ideology to heart, highlighted by the council's 16-year-streak of voting against property tax increases and its ongoing efforts to bolster the Spokane Valley Police Department. Those values have come head-to-head as the city enters phase two of its bid to hire more deputies dedicated to Spokane Valley. They'd like to hire four patrol deputies, a behavioral health deputy, a school resource officer and a sexual assault detective that would split time with the sheriff's office, but need to secure a funding source. The council held a public hearing Tuesday on the plan for a funding source: a .01% sales tax within city limits that would generate an estimated $2.6 million annually. The city council voted 6-1 to advance an ordinance that would put the measure on the ballot for the August 5 primary election, but a final call on whether the question will be put to the voters won't be made until April 15. If approved, the measure would increase the city's sales tax to 9% as of January 1, 2026, and the revenue generated would be dedicated to costs associated with providing public safety services, including "adding new police officers; paying public safety operations, maintenance and capital; providing for law enforcement staffing and retention," according to the current draft of the measure. State law does allow for a portion of the proceeds to go to other city costs, which is noted in the draft. Noticeably missing from the current iteration of the proposition is a sunset date for the tax. Councilman Al Merkel appeared to take issue with the omission of an end date and said he believes the city should find other ways to cover the costs, like cutting other services, before putting it to the voters to decide. He is supportive of the efforts to bolster dedicated police staffing by 25 deputies called for in a consultant's 2023 analysis but believes those additions should be funded in their entirety first, then the city can find necessary cuts in the budgeting process. "Policing is the one critical service that the city provides, and we should fully fund it with the revenues that we have now and then come to the citizens if we need revenues for like-to-haves, instead of needs," Merkel said. Merkel's peers expressed a desire to have voters decide if they would be willing to foot the bill for additional law enforcement positions. Councilman Ben Wick said he opposes additional cuts to city services and highlighted the limited options to secure funding necessary to boost police staffing. The council redirected funding from streets, city staffing and parks projects to hire 10 new dedicated deputies last year, and could look to end the city's pool and swim programs, parks maintenance and economic development efforts to fund the next round of officers if the measure does not pass, said Deputy City Manager Erik Lamb. Other options to secure the funding would include property or utility tax increases, or additional business license fees, according to a city staff report. "There are a number of other priorities that we're trying to accomplish for the city; economic development, for instance, helps all of our other jurisdictions," Wick said. "The property taxes for the library, fire: all of those are done and increased because of our economic development." Mayor Pam Haley echoed Wick's sentiment, highlighting that the city's aquatics program helps save lives, and that she does not want to be forced to make cuts to it. Members of the public who testified at the meeting in opposition to the measure were disgruntled with paying additional taxes in the city, while others cited concerns that additional police staffing would not address the city's public safety needs. Those in the former crowd said they'd like to see the city find additional cost cutting measures, while those in the latter shared a desire to see investments addressing underlying contributors to criminal behavior, like a lack of housing, jobs and social services. Pat Dempsey, vice chair of the citizen's advisory board at the sheriff's office, was one of few who testified in support of the measure. She said she also would like investments made in regional services for homeless people and those struggling with addiction, which is why she appreciates that one of the proposed deputy positions would be paired with a social worker. "This is a way that we help support our homeless, which is one of our biggest issues in this county, in the city, is to help bring the support to the actual people that are homeless," Dempsey said. "These combinations of social workers and deputies together are doing a great job." Councilman Rod Higgins reiterated for the public and his peers that Tuesday's vote only advanced the proposal to a second reading next week as the board continues to mull it over. "Let's not get ahead of our skis here," Higgins said.
