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2016, 02-23 Special Meeting MINUTES City of Spokane Valley City Council Special Meeting Tuesday,February 23,2016 Attendance: Councilmembers: Staff: Rod Higgins, Mayor Mark Calhoun, Deputy City Manager Arne Woodard, Deputy Mayor Cary Driskell, City Attorney Dean Grafos, Councilmember Erik Lamb, Deputy City Attorney Chuck Hafner, Councilmember Mike Stone, Parks&Recreation Director Ed Pace, Councilmember John Hohman, Comm &Eco Dev. Director Sam Wood, Councilmember Morgan Koudelka, Sr.Administrative Analyst Bill Gothmann, Councilmember Pro Tem Eric Guth, Public Works Director Rick VanLeuven, Police Chief John Whitehead, Human Resources Manager Patty Bischoff,Administrative Assistant Carolbelle Branch, Public Information Officer Jennifer Papich, Recreation Coordinator Carol Carter,Cust. Relations Coordinator Steve Worley, Cap. Improvement Program Mgr Roxanne Crofton, Receptionist Christine Thompson, Office Assistant Bill Miller,IT Specialist Deanna Horton, Administrative Assistant Dan Domrese,Accountant/Budget Analyst Cari Henshaw, Office Assistant Mary Swank, Office Assistant Christine Bainbridge, City Clerk Mayor Higgins called the meeting to order at 5:00 p.m. ROLL CALL: City Clerk Bainbridge called the roll; all Councilmembers were present. It was moved by Deputy Mayor Woodard, seconded and unanimously agreed to approve the amended agenda. EXECUTIVE SESSION: It was moved by Deputy Mayor Woodard, seconded and unanimously agreed to adjourn into executive session for approximately forty-five minutes to review the performance of a public employee, and that action will be taken upon return to open session. Council adjourned into executive session at 5:02 p.m. At approximately 5:43 p.m.Mayor Higgins declared Council out of executive session. It was moved by Deputy Mayor Woodard and seconded by Councilmember Pace, to (1) request that the City Manager resign in the best interests of the City; (2) that this request be considered a request for resignation pursuant to the Employment Agreement between Mr. Jackson and the City, section 10, subsection 3; (3) that Mr.Jackson receive all benefits he would be due under Section 11 of the Employment agreement, and(4) that he immediately be placed on suspended status with full pay and benefits until such time as the specific terms of his separation from the City can be finalized, but not to exceed 4:00 p.m. on March 30, 2016. After Mayor Higgins explained the rules for conduct for the meeting and for public comment. Mayor Higgins invited Council comments. Deputy Mayor Woodard said that actually it would be Council Special Council Minutes:02-23-2016 Page 1 of 9 Approved by Council:03-08-2016 questions. Councilmember Grafos said he didn't have any questions, but would like to make some comments and have public discussion first. Mayor Higgins agreed,and said let's start over: questions from Council. Hearing none, he invited public comment. 1. Tom Towey, Spokane Valley: said he is not here to change anybody's mind as they've all made up their minds by now; said he wanted to honor Mike for his service to our community; said he had the privilege of working with Mike for four years,and that it is no accident we have one of the best and qualified Department Managers and staff in all of Washington State; said it is no accident that we enjoy the envy of most of the 281 cities in Washington due to Mike working with past Councils to achieve the highest standards of doing city business. That it is no accident that through Mike's six-year business plan, past Councils have been able to make informed decisions on city policies and budgets; that it is no accident that this City enjoys financial stability that he brought about by past Council and the leadership of Mike Jackson; all during the recession,Mike's leadership and steadfast common sense approach to tough issues not only earned him the respect of those he worked with, but also of the respect of his colleagues throughout Washington. Said he has no worries about Mike's future, and wish him the very best, but said he does have a concern about the Spokane Valley losing one of the best city managers we could ever hope for. Said he realizes this action tonight is the result of this Council's quest for power and control,for if you cannot have power you cannot have power without control;power in the hands of politicians is disastrous,and it has no place on this City's dais. 2. Linda Thompson, Spokane Valley, and works for the Greater Spokane Substance Abuse Council also in the valley; said she is here to ask that Council changes their mind if they have already made their minds up, otherwise why is there an importance to have public comment; said she thinks it is important to have a public voice here and to speak up for the leadership we want to have;said Council as the community leaders have been elected by the people,that we trust in you to make good choices and decisions for our government and for our City; said Mike Jackson has been an incredible leader for our City; said she has worked with so many of the staff from Steve to Mike to Chris, everybody, and that is led by Mike Jackson setting the tone of professionalism; that as Council knows, she is in prevention because her three-year old son was killed by a seventeen-time drunk driver; the only way she can continue to do this work, which has been almost thirty years, is to surround herself with people of compassion and people who appreciate the human beings they work with and think of the best ways to keep everyone moving toward a positive goal; said she is looking at Mike Jackson knowing that she can call him, she can ask questions, and he was always very kind, very willing to find the answers; he referred her to Cary a couple times and they worked on things that had state and national impact; said she knows we are a leader in the legislative issues as far as looking at how we can combine the marijuana issues with medical and recreational; said we took on hard-charging items because we had leadership from the Council and from Mike Jackson to bring those resources to the forefront to be able to fight that; said it is extremely important to have the kind of people who are passionate and who put their own agendas to the side and really listen to the people and what the people want and what is good for the children and youth and adult communities around us; and said she just has to advocate that if you are listening to the people who are here, if you can see the faces of people who believe in Mike's leadership,believe in how our City has been exemplary in every part of the services;you can look at maps, you can see the websites,you can see everything and it is very transparent,and I think that is due to Mike's leadership, and I think that it is a sad thing for our City to not value the human beings who give their best to help us be a strong City. 3. Ben Wick, Spokane Valley and business owner in Spokane Valley: said he had the privilege and honor of being able to work with Mike in the last four years; said he wanted to tell a few stories and antidotes of his experience with Mike. Mr. Wick said he served on a number of freight rail committees at state level, and as a Council set a goal to get more involved at the state level especially in Bridging The Valley; and said that Mike Jackson took that to heart and when Mr. Wick got on the committee, if they ever had an issue, Mike was there; he got the staff together; said they made trips to Olympia, and to D.C., and if there ever was a rumor or question he had while at those meetings,he was always able to get to Mike immediately; Special Council Minutes:02-23-2016 Page 2 of 9 Approved by Council:03-08-2016 he was available to give information; he was that kind of a person, committed to the goals of Spokane Valley; said the Solid Waste Agreement was another major goal last year; and while the Council wanted to go in a different direction,we were involved in a study which didn't always go our way, but he made sure that Council could get the data wanted and needed to make the best decision; with his leadership we could do that; and after the decision was made to go off in our own direction, Mr. Jackson was able to execute a contract and make the transition so smooth most people didn't even know there is a different transfer station for the City of Spokane Valley;garbage continued to get picked up;we had hardly any complaints;we even had Waste Management going through the Sunshine Facility before we had a contract,to make sure it was going to work out; and those aren't actions from someone who is irresponsible. We gave him a budget challenge last year to have 6% operating expenses go to street preservation. Mr. Wick said he didn't think it was possible.Mr.Jackson was able to come up with a plan and maintain that plan through multiple years. Mr. Wick said Mr. Jackson is very open-minded and communicative;talk about issues together even if we didn't see eye-to-eye, Mike was able to provide input and his rationale, and then respect Council decision; and said he can't ask for any better than that. While in Olympia,he spoke with people from other cities and often times he had some staff tell him how they appreciated and said we have a good city manager here,we respect him and look to him for advice. Mr. Wick said he feels we need to reconsider; we have a great person and the team as well. 4. Eileen Allen,Spokane Valley: said she doesn't understand the justification for the removal;that the City is running well; and we have heard people attest of how he works with different aspects of the City; said she understands that Mr. Jackson has recently received an excellent job review; therefore she fails to understand why we should make the expenditure of our precious financial resources to pay off Mr. Jackson's current outstanding contract and search for a new, untrained person to take over that roll. She said Council is bound to serve the people; and is not a tribunal free to re-shape the City government and spend our resources without strong arguments to back up those actions. She said that if there are issues with our City Manager,they should be heard publicly so that they could be confirmed and/or defended. If not, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. 5.Peggy Doering, Spokane Valley: said she came tonight not really understanding what was going on; said she doesn't feel she will leave with a clear explanation of what's happened; and said she is heartsick. Said she just posted on Facebook that Council is in a special session to fire the City Manager; and as a heartsick citizen; she said he is a very ethical and honorable public servant who served over 13 years; said she first met Mike when he was Director of Parks & Recreation, and he worked on the formation of taking all the park plans handed over including the design plans for CenterPlace, and working with the City and the County and others was able to make sense of things; said that he relocated his family here and became a member of our community and his kids are in school here; said you can see the family in all realms of community life. Said she is flustered; said when there were problems, he invited people to come in this room, he furnished lunch, and everyone talked about the problems and what we all could do better as a community; said he has always had an open door policy; that she has worked with many members of staff here and never felt shut out in any discussion; said she doesn't know how to change Council's mind. As City Manager, he balanced the budget and is respected in the community; she asked what is it we are missing, and help us understand what we are looking for as it must be something serious; said she can't believe it is a power play, it has to be something very serious like malfeasance with financial institutions, or corruption; and she asked Council to tell us what is going on and give us some honest answers. Said she has invested a lot of her life in this community to make it a healthy,wonderful place,and that she looks for partners who are ethical and honest to work with. 6.Jennie Willardson,42-year Spokane Valley resident;thanked Council for allowing her to speak and said, amazingly the public still has that right; said she is upset yesterday to discover that the City Council was intending to dismiss City Manager Mike Jackson; said she is upset that all of a sudden this was sprung on us, it's not on the agenda; said she wasn't intending to come tonight except to see the approval of a new city hall; said this was a total surprise. Said she thought we were supposed to be getting transparence and Special Council Minutes:02-23-2016 Page 3 of 9 Approved by Council:03-08-2016 this has been anything but transparent; said this is the first the public has been allowed to comment when apparently this is pretty much a done-deal. When Mike Jackson came to this City as parks manager at the beginning of the City; he has served this community well; he moved into this community and became a member of this community and said she often sees Mike and his wife in the City being part of this community; said he was a great parks director;he came on board,moved up to assistant City manager; said she had many disputes with the previous City manager,she hasn't had anything but praise for Mike Jackson; and said that the past years have been quiet as we've been attending to City business,and only City business with Mike Jackson. Said she is disturbed since there has been a new Council majority that we are having constantly going into things that aren't City business. She said that Mike Jackson has been the best City manager she has seen, and that her uncle was a City manager;and short of her uncle,the best City manager she has seen in any city is Mike Jackson. 7. Diana Wilhite, Spokane Valley: said this City is near and dear to her heart as when you form a new city, it's kind of like having a baby and you take very much interest in what goes on; said she got to know Mike Jackson because we hired him for the Parks Department, and from there he became the Deputy City Manager, and when she left the Council, he became the City Manager; said he has done an excellent job from what she can tell; said what she has perceived is,that she heard that sometimes messages are delivered to the present Council that they are not happy with or don't like; and it is her perception that Council is killing the messenger because you don't like the message and you want to do it your way; said there are many things as a city that are required to be by law, and that sometimes she felt constrained about and would have liked to change the law in some manner; but you have to go to the state legislature to do that; said she feels Council has made a very bad judgment call; said she doesn't know what Council's concerns are or what they don't like what he's been telling you, but that he is an honest man and paints the picture and as Council has heard,he listens to you;and if he gives you his opinion and you want to go another way, yes, you are the Council and you can go the policy direction you want, but he tried to give you wise, sage advice about things; he is a knowledgeable man and he wants to see this city survive, and said she doesn't know if Council does. She said they have heard rumors about people who want to get rid of the contract with the Sheriff's Office because they don't like the Sheriff and they aren't looking at the good service that we get and the fine contract we have, they just want to do away with him and said she thinks they are politically motivated, and she said shame on you for this. Said Council talks about transparency but they are not being transparent at all,and she hopes that somebody steps up and says, shame on you, because she is. 8. Deanna Horman, Spokane Valley: in the interest of time, she said thank you to Mr. Jackson for his service, and amen to the past two speakers; and said she also was concerned that Council had started this meeting at 5 instead of 6:00 9. Marcia Sands: Spokane Valley, and former member of the Planning Commission: said this is a horrible travesty and is irresponsible; said she thinks that there is a majority of the City Council that had their minds made up prior to ever coming to discussion with rest of Council and are not listening to public input,and it is most of you who have your eyes down right now. Said she had differences with every City Council and hasn't always liked everything that everyone has done,but that she has always respected everyone who has been on the City Council because she thought they had the best interests of this City at heart. She said she no longer feels that with a lot of the people on the Council now and thinks that Council has some political motivations. She said that as all the social media rumors have it, it appears that Council decided on letting Mr.Jackson go before any discussion amongst the Council; said that is absolutely wrong and is a violation of the Washington State Open Public Meetings Act;said we will be watching everything you do and making sure you follow the rules and if you don't,under the Washington State Open Public Meetings Act,you can be held personally liable. She said that letting Mr.Jackson go is a sad thing because not only has he been a good public employee and done the best that he could for the City, and it will also cost a lot of money to this City and said she wouldn't be surprised if Mr. Jackson sues us and that is going to cost everybody money and will mean that our roads can't get fixed as well as they have been fixed,and that other contracts Special Council Minutes:02-23-2016 Page 4 of 9 Approved by Council:03-08-2016 that the City has and does can't be fulfilled. She said Council is creating a bad working environment for not only the employees,but also a bad working environment for the entire town and that the actions Council is taking are creating a bad and hostile environment for businesses to do business in town; said she has talked to people and they are all worried about it. 10. Chief Rick VanLeuven: said that he has had opportunity to know and work with Mr. Jackson since 2007;said many of the successes we have in the Police Department are in very close collaboration with Mr. Jackson; said they have been able to institute new programs of power shift and many other aspects of the success of the Spokane Valley Police Department; said when he would come to him with proposals, he would do his due diligence to make sure that he (Chief VanLeuven) had covered all the facts and information to make sure it was the appropriate thing to keep our citizens safe; said Mr. Jackson has continued to do that in a very positive format first and foremost for the safety of citizens of Spokane Valley, which he said is Mr. Jackson's number one concern; said Mr. Jackson has help facilitate probably the best relationship we have had with the City in the current contract; said he has found him to be very trustworthy and very ethical; and that part of the success we have as far as our public safety contracts is directly based on his leadership and collaboration with other community partners like the Sheriff and County Commissioners; and said that he is an astute leader for this City. 11. Gene Strunk,Broadway: said he showed up late and said the thing that he finds so intriguing here is the automatic presumption that people who are elected by the people, recently, to maintain these positions, right out of the box, can't make a good decision. Said there is a whole group of people behind him that he has sat back there and can't take it;said he listened to them condemn the new people on this Council without knowing anything apparently about how this works. Said for those individuals sitting behind him,the City Council doesn't have the power to fire anyone on the staff with the exception of the City Manager. Recently we have had people in the public works department that have cost this community about $1 million so far and we don't even have a bridge yet across Sullivan; and who's the guy in charge of overseeing that? Mr. Jackson.That's one example. There are many many many examples. So the point is,having been,he heard one woman talking about how the businessmen are all upset, well, he said he also conferred with other business people, and said I'm telling you that businessmen are upset when we have people in the city government working on the staff that don't know what they're doing and Mr. Jackson refuses to deal with it; it's costing way more than what it's going to cost to get rid of him; and as far as all this wonderful gracious talk about what a wonderful guy he is,yeah,he probably is a wonderful guy in their mind;but said he sat here the night when he was getting his salary from Mr. Schimmels,and Mr. Schimmels had difficulty because he was an old man reading the paragraph sitting where the mayor is now,and the immediate family of Mr. Jackson was sitting there giggling about Mr. Schimmels `cause he couldn't read the paragraph; you can go back and check the record `cause the person here had to read it for him; so let's not talk about things we don't know about; he said he was one foot away when he observed that and said he was appalled; and said he doesn't want to hear about that; said everything that is going on here is second-hand and what he just shared is first hand and this man refuses to deal with the staff because it is political, and it's time to get rid of him. Sorry, it's costing us too much money. 12. Mike King, commercial realtor specializes in Spokane Valley; said this City Council has been running as a well-oiled machine,so has city government,and is one of the reasons it is the most fiscally responsible and financially healthy communities in the state of Washington; said he would like to not see Council making radical changes like they are proposing and hopes we don't join the City of Spokane in the crisis they're serving on in their police department; said we have had steady sound leadership, and it would be disappointing for the business community to see a change; he asked Council to stay fiscally responsible,to use your head and maintain a steady course not a radical course. 13. Deanna Horton, said she works for the City of Spokane Valley and lives in the City of Spokane Valley, and said she believes this is her only opportunity to say to Mr. Jackson, thank you; thank you for her ten Special Council Minutes:02-23-2016 Page 5 of 9 Approved by Council:03-08-2016 years;that she had the opportunity to work for him and didn't take it and went to work for a crazy woman instead; she thanked Mr.Jackson for his leadership,kindness, and for being here for us. 14. Carla Kayly, works for KPS Realty in Spokane Valley; said she had the pleasure of watching the community grow for about the last ten years; said she is excited to be a part of the City of Spokane Valley and excited to see it grow and prosper economically; as a business owner and person who employs employees, said she thinks it is very important for this Council to understand if they don't already,that the number one failure of employee/employer relationship is inadequate training, and the number two failure is poor direction from upper management, or unclear expectations. Said the understanding is that Council wants to make a radical change; said radical changes have the capability of destabilizing even the most well-oiled and structured machines, and they are not typically desired at the higher levels unless there is something egregious that has occurred in the business environment, such as willful or wanton refusal to follow appropriate and well directed upper management direction; and said she is really hoping that the Council has taken a hard look at the structure they have in place,made sure their communication is effective and made sure that their wishes and desires have been very clearly communicated because otherwise it will ultimately result in the failure,and the responsibility of the failure will be on the Council just like the failure on the part of our business; being a business owner when one of my employees fail, I fail, it's a personal failure at that level;said she is hoping that the City is not making the statement that they are having a failure and that they are instead looking at maybe making a correction, a mid-course correction that will help support and stabilize all the hard work that we've seen you do, and keep moving the City forward; she said this is not something that we like to have the rest of the world and our sister cities witness,this is something that should be handling and addressing maybe with better communication and more clear direction on the part of Council. 15.Joy Kat,resident of Spokane County and employed in the City; said we have all heard all these amazing things from previous individuals about the financial stability that Mr. Jackson has helped us; no proposed taxes,no increases;the respect and the interaction from the federal delegation for the first time in the City's history; we've also heard about the street maintenance program and the solid waste program; we've heard that he has great common sense and is very respected;he's been great to work with,he's had positive goals, and I don't think we are making good choices; we tell our children to make good choices; make a better choice;this is supposed to be for the people and by the people; try and make a better choice;we are trying to persuade you, trying to share with you valuable information about how this man has done such an amazing job; please hear the people. 16. Rick Scott, lives in the Edgeclift neighborhood of Spokane Valley and member of SCOPE: extended thanks to Mike; said he has known him since Mike was the director of Parks and Recreation; said he has been a very supportive man for the Edgeclift neighborhood; he helped to get the Edgeclift park going as well as programs there; he supported the Department of Justice Weed and Seed grant which resulted in getting over $1 million in four years to help clean up that neighborhood; said that when he became City Manager,he was very supportive of the SCOPE volunteer program, and said he appreciates the man. 17. Sheriff Knezovich: said it is not often that he steps up and talks about an individual, but wanted to take this opportunity because Mike Jackson is one of the finest people he's ever had a chance to work with; he said that being in the realm he is in, very rarely do we run into straight-shooters, and said Mike has always been a straight-shooter with him, and that he always would know where his lines were,and said that he has represented Council very well; said that he and Mr. Jackson have not always agreed but they've always been able to find that common compromise; and said that Mike has done a great job for the City and that he really appreciates the time that he has had to work with him, that he is a great man, and he wishes him all the luck. There were no further public comments. Mayor Higgins asked for Council comments. Special Council Minutes:02-23-2016 Page 6 of 9 Approved by Council:03-08-2016 Councilmember Hafner: said you knew I would have something, so have some patience with me Mayor because it's an experience that we face very seldom when we look at a city manager whom we'd worked with and all of a sudden find out that he's being dismissed, and I think the rationale needs to be provided to the people of this community and the reasons for that. I simply want to go kind-of back in time. I was at one time the principal of Mead High School, and during this time we had some John Birchers libertarians come into our school district and they made sure that we failed some levies that were so important for our kids. Now as a high school principal, I spent one full year with kids that only had five straight academic classes. They didn't have any kind of sports and didn't have any kind of music, didn't have art, we didn't have any of those extracurricular activities that are so important for our young people to grow. They had the straight five academic classes.Now I contribute the fact to pretty much the far-right organization of the John Birchers,the libertarians,and they were the ones that caused and it was the kids that really got hurt in the long run; and moving forward to the year 2016, our City is beginning to see reflection relating to the same conditions that I saw during the Mead situation,but only the difference is,one is a school district and one is our City. We have four very conservative right-wing people on this Council now, far right, and sometimes extremists. That's how they are described; not by me but that's how the dictionary describes it. Councilmember Wood called for a point of order, was acknowledged by Mayor Higgins, and Councilmember Wood asked that the extinguished Councilmember please refrain from making derogatory comments about the other members. Councilmember Hafner said ok, and that he's already done that so that's taken care of; and the present agenda that reflects a political idealism; an idealism that does not represent the greatest percentage of our community through our own. I'm speaking tonight for the silent majority of our City; it's never heard very often, not even voting or what they want and what they do not want, but the silent majority sometimes needs to stand up and really be counted; we the citizens allowed special interests on this Council to dominate it;our interests should be for the common good for the citizens. They have the power, they have the four votes. They have the muscle, and by dismissing and requesting Mike Jackson to resign is one of those muscle activities. So why is it at this time that members of our Council want to fire, or ask our City Manager to resign? It is a conundrum to me. A puzzle. I don't even know, and now that's a good question for all us sitting here and watching this charade,when one considers what he has accomplished. He has been the face of the City of Spokane valley. He is responsible for providing basic services to over 900 residents; the service area is approximately 39 square miles; his staff maintains over 435 miles of streets service — streets; and of course there's going to be those conditions when sometimes it doesn't get taken care of it; he has provided a balanced approach to growth and development; he has by contract provided and assured a safe place to work and live; public safety; developed with staff a business friendly city; our road preservation is second to none. Just go in Spokane and ride on some of their roads and you'll find out where we are. Our City has money in the bank. Most every city in the state of Washington are envied because of what we have. We have money in the bank and we have reserves so we can take care of an emergency. He also negotiated an agreement between the City of Spokane Valley and the Washington State County and City Employees—our union; it was a very good accord for our City. The current solid waste program was developed under supervision of Mike Jackson and some Councilmembers; they did a very good job; funding for the replacement of Sullivan Bridge was accomplished; it took a lot of time but we got it accomplished; and also finding the need and monetary resources for our new city hall that we've wanted. And most of all, we have a pay as you go philosophy, we don't go in debt. I could go on and on and tell all of you that our City is being run in a very efficient manner. We have provided good basic services to our citizens at a very reasonable cost, and even adding some wants,at some time. So why do we want to change the skipper,the captain or professionally speaking, our City Manager when everything is going so well for us; and why, unless there's a hidden agenda item that we are not made unaware of that is the reason for doing this. A tsunami is just beginning. Our City will not be the envy of the other cities, but will be remembered as a city of no, a city that once was great, and just like the students of Mead High School, our residents will suffer the consequences. Mike Jackson has done an outstanding job for our City and I for one will not accept his resignation. For your information, there were three of us that were unaware of what was going on until this evening, and so we contemplated and we went through a series of concerns and questions. Very open minded from all of us and we feel very good about that. But there are concerns that I am really concerned about, is that again, surprises from one Special Council Minutes:02-23-2016 Page 7 of 9 Approved by Council:03-08-2016 Tuesday to the next Tuesday to the next Tuesday and not following the process. Again, I will not support this motion; I will not accept Mike's resignation because I think it was done in a manner where it was you either resign or else; and I don't appreciate that; and I work with too many administrators knowing fully well that that's the case in so many instances. That's all I have to say Mayor.Thank you. Councilmember Gothmann: We've first of all heard questions,was there malfeasance or anything like that and I want to assure the audience that there is absolutely none of that. This guy is as clean as the driven snow. Let's get that straight. He has an excellent staff One of you spoke of cost, I don't know,just my estimate it will cost between $115,000 and$140,000 and that's probably the low end,when he leaves. But I wanted to let you know, somebody asked, was there corruption, was there malfeasance. Absolutely not. This guy is clean, he's honest, and that sort of thing. I wanted to take my time. I looked up on the city website, he was appointed City Manager on January 5, 2010; he was sworn in as City Manager on September 21,2010. I want to thank him for his work on public works, such as Appleway landscaping, Old Mission Access, University overpass study, Argonne Road, Mullan Street preservation, Sullivan/Euclid intersection,Indiana Extension project, Sullivan Road temporary repairs, Sullivan Bridge, Sprague Avenue reconstruction, Evergreen Road reconstruction, Appleway Trail, City Hall, decant facility, maintenance shop location, flashing beacons, LED lights, Gateway signage, snow removal plan,pavement management plan, Bridging the Valley, stormwater, wind and storm response, the plans that he made and also the suggestion that Council provide some relief to charitable organizations for windstorm; street maintenance, street sweeping, and a response to the Tesoro Plant trips. I want to thank him for his work in Community Development, for economic development, marijuana legislation, legal action against sex shops in our city who were operating illegally, noxious weeds, historic preservation, we're going to look over that this evening, gender segregated facilities, he advised us on that; restaurant roadmap,that was last time; permit tracking system. I also want to thank him for his work on Parks, Browns Park, and Browns Volleyball,and by the way, I got these all off the city website,just reading the agendas. Contracts. I came up with thirty different contracts and agreements. A public facilities, I'm not going to read them all, Radio Car club, SRTC Interlocal,Avista Electrical Franchise; I like this one,the Fat Beam Telecomm Franchise,I like that one; collective bargaining, Community Minded TV; Spokane County info systems, the jail and Geiger Maintenance; all these required agreements or contracts that he has negotiated; Animal Control, Senske Park Maintenance. I am so thrilled with what Senske does to our parks,and that started with him way back when he was in charge of parks. Airway Heights Plan Review; agreement with Spokane County Library District, Splashdown, Senske Park Maintenance,Fire Department Interlocal, City Hall lease, Public Safety contract, Intergovernmental Purchasing with Washington State. Washington State gets a bargain on some things and there's an interlocal agreement that allows us to get bargains. AWC Agreement, that has to do with health plans here for the City. I want to thank him for his work on law enforcement,the Alcohol Drug Enforcement, Dangerous Dog regulations, e-cigarettes, these are things that are all covered by Council. False Alarm legislation, immigration practices—the Sheriff made a presentation on that; accreditation. We have accreditation and our police department's accredited. Wow.That's great.Gang enforcement,property crimes. I want to thank him for the many plans that he's created for our city, a County Wide Hazard Mitigation, Shoreline Master Plan,Bike/Pedestrian Master Plan,Park and Recreation Plan,Comprehensive Plan, and a business plan. I also want to thank him for his financial goals, his budget, the budget goals, developing six yearly budgets in that time, property taxes. We have to pass property taxes every year. Admissions tax, he advised us on admissions tax; refinancing the LTGO bonds, those are the bonds that CenterPlace is being built to. I want to thank him for his training in the Open Public Meetings Act and for the Records Act. I want to thank him for all he's done for this city. With this kind of record,there is no way in God's green earth that I'm going to vote in favor of the motion. Councilmember Grafos: I have a few comments and I would appreciate it if I didn't get gaveled down, because this is very relevant.Mayor Higgins said it depends on the rules Mr. Grafos.Mr.Grafos said in the last seven years, I have been honored to serve on this Council. It has been a Council with differences at times but it has always been a Council with the best interest of our city and our citizens in mind. However, tonight's meeting is now one of a quick series of moves that characterizes this governing body as one that Special Council Minutes:02-23-2016 Page 8 of 9 Approved by Council:03-08-2016 is moving in a terrible direction. The firing of our City Manager, one of the most talented, competent, and professional people I know is a travesty and a dangerous move by our new majority. It is not because of any sham pretext given or taking a new direction, which we hear from different people. It is because he is a major obstacle to the plan for the eventual formation of a City of Spokane Valley Police Department.This will be a department answerable to a nonelected city manager of their choosing and an agenda-driven Council majority. This Council majority is now pursuing an extreme right-wing course, politicizing our city government and catering at some level to militia-leaning elements in our community. The Ed Pace proposal for our own oversight committee is also another step, one that will be rammed through next week with little or no discussion, perhaps one of those new resolutions by the foursome. This action is another step toward eliminating our sheriff's contract under the guise of sharp budget analysis and valley consensus. However, our current oversight committee already has a large number of Valley citizens serving. The elimination or weakening of our contract will expose our community to huge liabilities, will cost our City millions of dollars and will likely double city government. Furthermore, this action tonight, coupled with the formation of a new oversight committee, is a thinly disguised political action to rid our community of the influence of Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich, especially in his fight against dangerous and extreme elements, though very small, that are present in our community. We have just recently witnessed this extremism in Oregon and know of its presence in our own and neighboring states. Lastly, any change in community policing should only come about after months, possibly years of informed community meetings and a saturation of information for our citizens to move from our status as a lower cost, contract city. And it should only come by a vote of the people and not by some political backdoor sham orchestrated by this new Council majority. That's all I have to say on this. There were no further Council comments and Mayor Higgins asked Deputy Mayor Woodard to restate the motion. Deputy Mayor Woodard restated the motion to(1)request that the City Manager resign in the best interests of the City;(2)that this request be considered a request for resignation pursuant to the Employment Agreement between Mr. Jackson and the City, section 10, subsection 3; (3) that Mr. Jackson receive all benefits he would be due under Section 11 of the Employment agreement, and (4)that he immediately be placed in suspended status with full pay and benefits until such time as the specific terms of his separation from the City can be finalized, but not to exceed 4:00 p.m. on March 30, 2016. Mayor Higgins asked if Council is ready for the question and he called for the vote.Vote by a show of hands found those in favor: Mayor Higgins, Deputy Mayor Woodard, Councilmember Pace, and Councilmember Wood. Opposed: Councilmember Grafos, Councilmember Hafner, and Councilmember Gothmann. Motion carried. Mayor Higgins announced that this special session is concluded at 6:39 p.m.,after which it was moved by Deputy Mayor Woodard, seconded and unanimously agreed to adjourn. Mayor Higgins called for a ten-minute break before reconvening at ten minutes to the hour for the regularly scheduled 6:00 p.m. meeting. i -- ATTEST- L.R. HigginM. o `Christine Bainbridge, City Clerk 1 Special Council Minutes:02-23-2016 Page 9 of 9 Approved by Council:03-08-2016