Editor:
I just sat in on the 3/1/22 city council meeting during audience comments, where (former Councilmember) Adrienne Fraley-Monillas shared once again her disdain for the current city council president and (Councilmember) Diane Buckshnis.
She (Fraley-Monillas) was voted out overwhelmingly for her unprofessional behavior, bad actor antics, and lack of respect for citizens or anyone who opposed her agenda. She is a disgrace to anyone she thinks she is representing, not to mention, those of us who are forced to listen to her reckless rants. It is time that someone points out to her she was voted out for a reason. It is time for the mayor to tell her to stop being a bully to councilmembers.
Adrienne, move on! Do something good and focus on the future, not the past.
Kim Bayer-Augustavo
Edmonds
So we’re writing letters to the editor calling out private citizens by name now? That could get interesting really fast. If you think what you heard last night was a ‘reckless rant’, did you listen to any of the council meetings last fall? Or did you just agree with what they were saying? Because that was a non-stop parade of allegations and attacks.
Regardless, your intended target here is now a private citizen and allowed to call in during public comment.
Yeah. Dis is petty.
Kim, I suggest you move on!!! I’ve lived in the city most of my life and I am going nowhere!
Again I’m lighting behind the scenes of the council.
If that was me, Susan, Laura or Luke that hired our Campaign Manager to pay for her to do an in-service that was absolutely not prepared for and awful you have been saying something else. I could’ve just heard you caterwauling! Blah blah blah
All you’ve done by getting me not elected is to open up my voice and I’m going to continue to talk as well as others. Your candidate Vivian Olsen is ethically challenged and the citizens of Edmonds are right in demanding she stepped down from the council president. It’s time the citizens know what’s happening behind the scenes sweetheart.
Wow. You just can’t stop. Thank you for proving my point.
Of course sweetheart, maybe listen to the message and try and use your intelligence to understand what’s been done to our citizens. Very unethical!
Kim….it’s not important to always to get the last word in. You are such a hypocrite.
Unfortunately looking the other way is what Edmonds Government does. Ms. Monillias is right about the ethics problem. Had any of the folks she mentioned done the exact same thing, there would have been outrage. Was the presentation awful, well that is in the eye of the beholder. But when any of our elected official ( the Mayor appointed a political buddy to the public information officer position but he has the authority and right to do just that…distasteful as that is…council does/did the funding.).
Ms Olson decided for herself that disclosing her relationship to the paid speaker she contracted with was not relevant. Didn’t bother to mention it ( so knew on some level to disclose it would raise eyebrows at least) and tells us not to worry our pretty little heads. Ethically challenged electeds don’t belong to one camp or another. It didn’t cost that much, it wasn’t relevant, nothing to see here? Pretty much the code of ethics in Edmonds. Nothing happens even if it is blatant. Kind of ironic that the workshop was about honest communications and integrity. Building trust.
Anyone else still think we don’t need a total re-do on how we do this city government thing around here? You can’t force or teach people to have a little class; but you can develop systems that take away some of these numerous opportunities for people to be so obnoxious toward each other.
I certainly defend AFM’s or anyone else’s right to speak out publicly but I also defend my and other people’s right to consider the source and ignore it. We need to find some way for our city government to just be in the business of good public administration; and out of the business of saving the world while supporting the latest political fads and theories of good urban development coming down the road. We are broken and need to get whole again someway, somehow.
Clinton, you should be disgusted by the council president hiring her campaign manager to provide training to the council, A little unethical to say the least.
I will not be silenced by the right wing of our city, that includes Ms. Agastavo, stand up for the truth not for the lies. Please look into my events news and see where the trainer is indicated as being the campaign manager for Miss Olsen, our favorite Avon lady.
AFM, it’s always the right wing that’s out to get you. Have you ever thought someone from the left doesn’t like your point of view? Maybe that’s why your not in office any longer.
Like I said you cant force or teach class. You either have it or you don’t. You, like most of us including myself, are your own worst enemy. You are being partisan where partisanship isn’t appropriate. (I’m about as not right wing as anyone could ever be). I voted against you because you come across as rude, crude, and obnoxious toward the people you work with to (supposedly) bring about the best city government we can have.
No one is trying to silence you. Your talking before thinking is what got you booted off the council by your unhappy constituents and you need to try to figure that out somehow for your own piece of mind and well being if nothing else.
I don’t hate you or anyone else in this town. In fact there are some things I really admire about you. I think you are spot on about the city wasting money on things like the civic park (that is starting to look like another money wasting debacle) and I think you’d make a good C.P. out of your own district if we ever get the smarts to go Council/Manager. You would certainly go to the mat for your constituents geographically speaking.
You need to learn to laugh at yourself a little bit and get along with people you disagree with. I have no doubt you are a good person, but so is Vivian Olson. I suspect Vivian is not a right wing zealot either. She just understands this city government is supposed to be non-partisan in nature.
Clinton, why don’t you actually try to help the elected pieces( all of them) of our city govt? Instead of wanting it torn down?
We elected these reps by popular vote…..Hoping that the pieces work properly. Sometimes they work great….sometimes they don’t.
Open discourse is part of city govt. ….and helps our reps ( hopefully) keep an open mind to all of the issues.
Personally, I want to thank Adrienne. You are important to not only myself, but a LOT of people who seek balance in city govt.
To be totally honest with you Richard, I’ve sort of reached the point where I don’t really care much what direction city government goes as long as it stays out of my hair (what’s left of it). I’ve figured out how to have what I want here in spite of whatever p.c. silliness is going on at our city hall. We hire consultants to tell us trees should be planted where they aren’t now and some homelessness is caused by a lack of affordable homes and substance abuse. Wow, how helpful is that? Next a consultant hired by our new development director is going to tell us that we need to make streateries permanent and turn downtown into a walking mall. It’s all baked in the cake and I’m just tired of it and they can do whatever they want to ruin paradise. I’ll just figure my own way around it and enjoy my life here.
Richard, I just believe it’s time to stand up, No matter your party affiliation. The last couple of years some on the council have been very divisive behind the scenes. As we see, ethics are real issue. I would’ve called this out no matter who was council president.
Hiring your own Campaign Manager to do city business is clearly an ethical issue. This all could’ve been resolved if the council president/ vice chair would’ve called the AWC and got a list of qualified people to give communication training and to facilitate the meeting. We pay dues to the AWC and they give us a cost effective trainer who specializes in local government. You don’t hire your friends and Campaign Manager to give a training in something they know little about.
We need to stand up and not tolerate these ethical violations.
Adrienne,
The problem, as I understand it, is that there is no enforcement mechanism beyond Council “policing” itself.. Making fireworks illegal didn’t make my neighborhood any quieter. What is the penalty for any ethical and fiduciary breaches? Without any objective enforcement, it just keeps happening over and over again. Don’t re-elect me if you don’t like it, has been heard more than twice. So, what can be done? I am truly curious as to your thoughts. Thanks
Adrienne, if you’re looking for the divisive, condescending element in last year’s ECC, find a mirror. Calling the denizens of the city you were elected to represent racist, stupid and white as if their race were something contemptible was all you, nobody else. We have the proof in multimedia: on video, double-secret chat rooms, etc. you never explained or apologized, so we never forgot, and for many, where forgiveness is not asked, none is given. We feel that we got the measure of your intellect and of your positions, and chose to vote somebody else in.
Speaking as the most right wing person in town, Adrienne, I appreciate you and am even impressed with what you’ve been able to accomplish and how much energy you put into your station. You are not done.
Matt, I certainly don’t think you are the most right wing person around.
I’ve heard much more conservative views from people that don’t care about other humans
I have met up with the Proud Boys. I was in an Arizona Tea Party chapter. I make my own guns. I am banned on Spirit Airlines. I’m pretty sure I have the most merrit badges in MEN Scouts.
I like humans more than dogs
In other news in Mayberry aka Edmonds, Aunt Bee had her award-winning pickle recipe hacked, Floyd the Barber raised his haircut price $2 because of inflation, Barney Fife it’s still trying to get past first base with Thelma Lou, Goober Pyle is seeing the gas prices skyrocket at the filling station, while his cousin Gomer is being sent to Europe. Floyd the drunk is off the Russian vodka. Andy Taylor is trying to keep funding for the Sheriff’s Department, and Opie has to go to school instead of cutting it, to go fishing, because of Covid. Small town news.
Typo. I meant to say Otis the Drunk is off to Russian vodka.
I like your satire Brian, but use it wisely. Satire has gotten me in a world of hurt over the years. People without a sense of humor just don’t get it and are easily angered by it. Personally, I love it. Keep it up.
“The secret source of humor is not joy but sorrow; there is no humor in heaven.” ― Mark Twain
Diane T,
The real issue is that the majority on this council will not use good judgement to as simple as writing her a letter explaining what she did wrong and indicated it should never happen again.
Last year the executive session process was abused for campaign season. You’re right Diane it has no teeth in it.
So when we have a gigantic ethics complaint such as this nothing will happen. I guess it’s up to the public to continue to ensure that our government is ethical.
Both the current president and vice chair both had allegations against them last year. Nothing occurred.
This year we’ve seen bullying to our student rep by these two leadership positions. It’s sad that nothing occurs
Here is the crux of the matter:
Is this person qualified for the position? Does he/she have a ( good, competent, satisfactory) track record in this field?
Because for a non-partisan council, you all ex CC
members and present ones, seem to take a lot of sides.
There are very few jobs where you can deny a person the right to a livelihood due to his/her associations.
Is there anything in the Edmonds job requirements that say that the person has to disclose friendships/family ties etc to be considered for the job?
If none of the above, what’s the problem, as to this person running Ms. Olson’s campaign, was this a secret? Why is this a disqualifier, especially if he/she did his/her job well enough for Ms.Olson to win?
Thanks for your insights, Adrienne.
This was not an official meeting but a get together for whatever council member wanted to attend. It had nothing to do with votes etc. It was simply a speaker, what difference does it make whether Council President Olsen knows her or not. So tell me since all are in a tizzy it appears what is the relationship of the speaker to Ms Olsen? Until I hear who this person is and why it matters I am going to stick with Vivian. I liked the speaker and I liked the friendly way the meeting went and all of the good advice on how to speak to others more courteously. I needed that training myself and I have been trying to use it, even when I am angry.
Actually it was an official meeting since majority of the Council was in attendance. Ms Olson chose not to disclose that she had any relationship to the workshop speaker/facilitator. Not in the packet documents and not to the public/council on her introduction. . That speaker was paid by taxpayer funds. It was official business. Why not mention that they worked on Vivian’s campaign together if it was no big deal? That is truly all she had to do. Not disclosing it left the other council members without an avenue to object. They may have agreed or not.
They could have voted to take it off the agenda, or discussed any concerns with Vivian before hand. That was how it should have been handled. Simple, easy and transparent. As it stands Vivian contracted with her former campaign manager for the gig, deciding on her own that their relationship was irrelevant. Open and transparent? Nope.
One of the reasons there is no enforcement in the code of ethics, is because Ms. Monillias and Storm Peterson didn’t want it in the ethics code Ken Reidy and I worked on back in the day ( sponsored by Joan Bloom to her great credit). It failed. History is what it is. Rewritten here often and loudly.
Exit stage left for me. Over 10 years and same old in Edmonds politics. I am done. Civic engagement here is a brick wall hitting you in the head.
Diane, please reconsider the stage left option; I appreciate your thoughtful perspective.
Agree with the ethics point. That seems perfectly reasonable and should be expected. Most of the rest of this chain is personal. It took a little searching to even figure out what this gathering was about. The content doesn’t appear out of line or controversial to anyone, though that kind of criticism is welcome. It sounds like the focus of the meeting was to learn how to not act like a blogger? Sounds good. As for transparency, the search for a police chief was a far better example of deception.
I put considerable time and effort into the retreat, and I am proud of how it turned out. I also feel good that it was pulled off with just $300 spent, a fraction of the amount spent by former Council Presidents on past retreats.
Ms Gettleman moved in the summer of 2019 and I have spoken to her infrequently since. She was sought to lead this workshop for her communications expertise (she has that) and because she is funny, and I thought it would be helpful to get our Council laughing together. At a bargain price, Ms Gettleman custom designed the workshop focusing on the needs I expressed, which were the collaboration and team building elements of conversation like empathy, active listening and self-reflection.
She nailed it. If these topics would be of value to you and your family or team, please enjoy for yourself at marker 3:38 of the Feb 25th retreat video on the City Council meeting page of the City website.
I believe the community deserves to feel pride in their elected leaders and their behavior, and I actively work to be that kind of elected. There have been egregious lapses, and these past events are understandably leading some to heightened sensitivities. A few others are not sensitive at all; they are opportunistically narrative-building for personal and political reasons.
Since the need was noted in this comment thread, I want to share that I am actively working in cooperation with the South County City Council Presidents to set up an external Ethics Board and will bring the concept to the appropriate Council committee as an agenda item in the second quarter.
Vivian is a stand up lady that has represented all of Edmonds well! I understand how hard it is to listen to people you don’t want to hear. The mute button was designed for that or turning the music up for a minute. Let’s hope freedom of speech continues in the USA. God Bless America!
On June 3, 2015, the day after adoption of the Code of Ethics, I emailed the City Council as follows:
The following State Law (RCW 36.70A.390) was violated last night. Will there be any accountability
related to Council’s illegal conduct? I also consider Council’s conduct very unethical. Who is charged with enforcing the new Code of Ethics?
My June 3, 2015 email to City Council was forwarded to the Mayor on Wednesday, June 3, 2015 12:08:44 PM, along with the following comment:
“This is why storm and I put this together this way……..”
I have all the documentation and am happy to share with anyone who would like to see it.
It has been almost 7 years since the following was removed from the proposed Code of Ethics at the last second:
“Follow Washington statutes, city ordinances or regulations in the course of performing duties.”
It is time to strengthen our Code of Ethics and add this important provision.
It is also time to establish a way to enforce the Code of Ethics. I am pleased to hear Council President Vivian Olson is actively working in cooperation with the South County City Council Presidents to set up an external Ethics Board.
The biggest change that needs to occur in Edmonds is that the mayor, some on his administrative staff and certain city council persons need to stop regarding the citizen as the enemy of them getting all the “good things” THEY want to do for Edmonds done. This isn’t just a problem with Mayor Nelson. It goes as far back as I can remember here.
The main reason city elections were designed to be non-partisan is to prevent petty politics and gamesmanship from getting in the way of taking care of what the citizens need to be done to live in a safe, clean and well maintained environment. That’s all city government should be about.
We have gotten lost in the weeds of saving the planet, solving homelessness, solving racism, promoting business and development of all types and fixing transportation for the whole region. That’s why we are screwed up, and will stay screwed up, as long as we go with the government model we have used here forever. Hyper partisanship is kind of just the straw that is breaking the camels back completely now.
It’s been suggested that no one “batting an eye” over some outrageous comments in this thread proves that everyone is supportive of the claims themselves and accepting of the person making them, and if the person upset over perceived inaction said the same things, the authorities would be called.
I would suggest that no one commenting on the outrageous comments comes from a place of “no surprise”, “nothing new here”, as well as people resisting the urge to engage with the person when it’s clear that controversy, shocking statements, and antagonizing others (as well as gaslighting) are some of the things that energize this individual. It’s not worth my time and energy, however, sharing my perspective for the specific person who made the observation is definitely worth my time and energy.
Some might say that the comments shouldn’t be printed, but I’m a strong believer in allowing people to reveal themselves. Knowledge is power. I, for one, have noted the specifics.
Just for clarification, I understand the full premise of privilege the person making the observation put forth, and don’t disagree; I merely wanted to address the postulate of meaning taken from a lack of visible outrage.
I’m trying to wrap my head around the very concept of “ethical behavior” and how we could ever assure it on the part of all our elected officials. I totally want to be optimistic but I can’t help but think it is a little like the concept of “classy or admiral behavior” as opposed to “crassness or ugly behavior.” It occurs to me that you tend to either have good ethics or you don’t; similar to you either having “class” or not. I’m sure it has a lot to do with parenting, education and even where you come from in the sibling order of your family to some extent. I guess it would have to start with just defining what is ethical behavior and what isn’t in terms of city government and moving on from there. I kind of think Vivian Olsen is on the right track here, but her road will not be an easy one as I’m sure this thread has shown her already.