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In May 2022, the newly elected City Council members tried to give themselves a raise. That attempt failed because the public became aware of it and applied to the Salary Commission (meaning the council majority couldn't be sure of the outcome).
Later via public records gave evidence that Mike Millman violated the Open Public Meetings Act and arranged with three other councilmembers to pass a Salary Commission ordinance and recruit applicants. Only the public outcry had stopped the scheme.
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Eighteen months passed and a Council election in November 2023 passed.
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In January 2024 just after he was re-elected, Mike Millman arranged a surprise agenda item (no public announcement) to install his five hand-picked commissioners. Nothing was known about these people, yet five councilmembers (Millman, Randolph, Evans, Arndt, Edward) voted without debate to appoint this group.
That Salary Commission met only twice: once to receive the required OPMA training and appoint a chair, then the second time they gave the councilmembers a 66.7% raise. The ceremonial mayor gets a 70% raise (Millman holds that position by this same council's vote).
Public comment was only allowed at the second meeting. With the exception of Mike Millman and James Randolph every public commenter recommended no-change in pay or a cited the need for more analysis.
Public Records show Mike Millman, Sarah Arndt, and Michelle Evans executed a plan to deceive the public and Council in a greedy attempt to stack the Salary Commission with friends.
Follow-up Public Records requests confirms Mike Millman also met with James Randolph prior to the council vote.
OneWoodinville did a data driven analysis of 2022 Council pay across the 25 King County cities with public salary data.
The councilmembers debate changing their pay. In the "Yes" camp: Mike Millman, Sarah Arndt, and Michelle Evans. On the "No"/"Let voters decide" side: Rachel Best-Campbell, Lester Rubstello, and Al Taylor. Absent that night: James Randolph.
City of Woodinville's attorney provides an explanation of the two options to change council pay.
Salary data and comparisons for Woodinville vs other King County cities (From the large such as: Seattle, Bellevue, Redmond, Kirkland, Bothell, Kenmore, to small like: North Bend, Duvall, and Clyde Hill)
In Washington State two options exist to change City Council pay:
The Woodinville City Council majority voted in 2022 to move forward with Option 2; in an attempt to get more money for themselves, without waiting for re-election.
Following the first debate in 2022 regarding creating a Compensation Commission (June 7th 2022 meeting video @ 43 minutes) a postcard was sent to inform voters in Woodinville of the council's actions.
On the postcard was a summary of the proposed Compensation Commission ordinance and a call for citizens voice their opinions.
The council majority repeatedly claimed to have no preconceived expectations. Yet they frequently discuss the their desire to be paid more without supporting data.
OneWoodinville collected publicly available data regarding 25 King County cities. Both the data and an analysis across multiple metrics are posted on this site.
Download, See for yourself and Share.
By all reasonable metrics Woodinville Council is already paid enough.
In 2022, Originally the application period for the Compensation Commission was open for just 4 business days. Millman, Arndt, and Evan''s pre-selected 3 candidates were informed directly.
Following strong questioning from the community and a some blowback from fellow councilmembers the application period was extended allowing more applicants to respond.
Note: Mayor Mike Millman still gets to hand-pick the members. Thus his three plus two other could make the outcome a foregone conclusion
Following a contentious debate in the June 21st 2022 meeting (video @ 55:44). the Council created a five person Compensation Commission with an extend the application period,
ending July 6th 2022.
A five person commission is still dominated by any three people
Mayor Mike Millman was expected to announce his hand-picked members at the July 12th 2022 meeting.
With the extra time, eventually seven (7) applications were received, including a former mayor (Gary Harris).
July 12th 2022: two of the three pre-planned picks backed out, leaving Mike Millman with a uncertain outcome if the commission formed.
Councilmembers Rubstello and Randolph changed their minds and expressed concern over the process. The council voted to table the commission vote.
Mike Millman was clearly frustrated that his hand-picked group would not be formed.
A commission could be formed in future - citizens must remain vigilant against another greedy money grab
After the 2022 debates on Compensation Commission a former citizen of Woodinville (alias "NickyD") requested "All council communications related to the Compensation Commission".
Public Record responses are public themselves, so OneWoodinville reviewed the data.
Included were a three-party text thread between Mike Millman, Sarah Arndt, and Michelle Evans pre-planning their talking points and lining up three friendly applicants for the commission.
These messages are proof of dishonest intent and the falsehoods spoken in public meetings. Particularly "text 7.jpg" and "text 10.jpg"
After eighteen months (January 9th 2024) of dormant the City Council jumped to create a Salary commission without any public notice.
Five councilmembers votes without a single word of discussion. The other two voiced their surprise and asked for details on the would-be commissioners; none was given.
All the public were given was a slide in the meeting minutes with these names:
Emily Smith
Tim Holeski
Trevor Scott
Fab Rezayat
Mace Brady
Why does their identity matter?
What do we know (or not)?
—> No other city commission can directly spend the city’s budget.
—> These five people were selected in secret and voted on without interviewing as all other commissioners do.
—> During the first meeting ( https://youtu.be/q90aICg5C5U ) they only gave vague introductions.
On January 9th, the city council voted to appoint salary commissioners with no public information other than their names.
Weeks later after the commission completed their OPMA training and officially became public officials OneWoodinville made a Public Record Request for the evidence that these commissioners were even eligible to serve (residency or owning a business in Woodinville is required).
Even after the second and final meeting, when the new salary raise was set - that proof of eligibility remains hidden in city servers (if it ever existed).
City staff scheduled the agenda for the Salary Commission's first meeting without a public comments period. Meaning the one and only chance for the public to provide input was in the second (and last) meeting.
City Staff also used only one camera (back of room) to record all Salary Commission meetings. OneWoodinville came to the second meeting prepared and captured a front view of public commenters to marry with the city's audio: https://youtu.be/EYg15NgjvBI
By all comparisons to equal sized cities Woodinville City Council was paid at or above the reasonable range. A 2/3rds raise (66.7%) was exorbitant and makes Woodinville a drastic outlier in all metrics.
There approach seemed to be averaging council pay for the comparison cities. Except all but one were city in their list are much larger than Woodinville. Further during the first meeting the commissioners excluded cities by name which happen to pay less than Woodinville - they engineered an excuse for this raise.
Even the claims that Woodinville has a high "cost of living" is strange as candidates for council must already be living in the city for over a year before being elected. As one public commenter noted: "This is an honorarium", not a career
Files related to the Woodinville 2022 council pay debate.
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